After-effects
by grnfield
Summary: The after-effects of a traumatic rescue have long-term repercussions for the occupants of Tracy Island.
1. Chapter 1

After-effects by Grnfield (Emma Nisbet)

Summary: The after-effects of a traumatic rescue have long-term repercussions for the occupants of Tracy Island.

Please be aware there is a very 'naughty' bit at the end of chapter 3.

~#~ (Chapter 1)

It was a harrowing mission right from the start. Alan, Virgil and Gordon began by using a combination of the Domo and the Firefly to evacuate a burning sweat shop filled with terrified Malaysian women and their children. The four storey building was well alight by the time International Rescue arrived and many of the workers had unfortunately already perished. Alan and Virgil managed to rescue sixteen people from the upper floors of the burning building and had just clambered back into the Firefly when Scott discovered a pocket of people trapped in a basement area. The two brothers thought for a moment and then parked the little yellow firefighter to one side and set about using the Mole to get the people out.

Scott was manning Mobile Control while the others were inside the building and was monitoring the structure carefully. He had just decided that the building was not stable enough for them to continue any longer when the Mole burrowed its way to the surface from the basement and landed in front of him. Virgil popped the door of the dirty yellow vehicle open and Alan ushered the last batch of rescuees over to join the waiting crowd. Once this was done he met back up with Virgil; the pair moved to where Scott was standing and the three of them looked at the building. Gordon was still supporting one of the outer walls with the Domo but it was clear to everyone that the whole place was in imminent risk of collapse.

Alan scanned the front of the building with his eyes and at a third floor window he caught sight of a terrified young woman. She had broken the glass window pane in an attempt to escape the inferno but had found her way blocked by metal bars on the outside of the window. Despite being three storeys above him, her eyes locked with Alan's and he let out a small cry. Before either Virgil or Scott had the chance to stop him he had moved away from them, straight across the yard and in through the front door of the now dangerously crumbling building. Virgil started to follow but found himself pulled up short by Scott who grabbed his arm and pulled him back.

"Don't be a fool, Virg," he hissed. "Alan should know better than that and you damn well do. Go and get the Firefly and get it pointed at that door. Move it Virg, if you want any hope of saving your brother."

~#~

Inside the building Alan was fighting his way up towards the third floor. As he approached the second floor staircase a steel beam came crashing down from the floor above and landed in front of him. To avoid this he was forced to leap to one side and he bounced off the nearest wall, cursing loudly as his ribs took a hit.

Once the beam had come to a halt Alan risked a deep breath and leapt over it before carrying on up the stairs and onto the landing. Not knowing exactly which room the girl had been in he started kicking doors open at random. The first two rooms he tried were devoid of people but were full of fire. The third room, which was almost fully ablaze, contained the girl he had been looking for.

Unfortunately Alan hadn't spotted her until slightly too late. By the time he got to her she had been overcome by fumes and had collapsed onto the floor. Alan ran across the room and fell to his knees as he reached her. He immediately checked for a pulse and hung his head in dismay when he couldn't find one. He then bundled her lifeless body into his arms and slowly struggled his way back towards the door.

~#~

By the time Alan and his precious cargo got back down to the ground floor it was almost completely filled with debris, smoke and fire. Despite his safety gear, Alan could barely breathe and blindly picked his way through the destruction in the direction he hoped he had come from only minutes before. After what seemed like an eternity but had in actual fact only been a couple of minutes, he stumbled out of the door and fell into Virgil's outstretched arms.

With almost superhuman strength Virgil pulled both Alan and the girl away from the building. He dragged them far enough so they were sheltered behind the Firefly and by the time he'd removed Alan's face mask and oxygen tank, Scott was there. "Alan. What the hell do you think you were doing?" he cried loudly. "You could have been killed. I'd called it. It was over, done, finished…no more. There was no way we were going to get anyone else out of that building without too great a risk to ourselves."

Just that moment the wall, which Gordon was still valiantly fighting with, folded in on the building. The window where the girl had been just minutes before disappeared in a thick plume of dust and ash.

Virgil went white, "Geez, Alan that was way too close."

"Too close?" Scott repeated. "Too close? There's no way in hell it should have been anywhere near that close. Alan what were you thinking?" It was as he raged at Alan that Scott noticed the girl encased in his little brother's arms. "Oh," he said quietly. "I see."

Virgil was in a better position to reach the girl and slipped a finger gently under her chin. He ran it along her neck until he found the place where the pulse point should have been but wasn't surprised when he could find no movement beneath the skin. The girl was still warm and Alan clung to her tightly, his dirty face partly obscured by her thick, black hair. Virgil looked at Scott and shook his head, "She's gone," he said softly before turning back to his youngest brother. "Alan, do you hear me? She's gone."

Alan shifted and looked up at him, his eyes vacant and glazed. "I know," he whispered. "I was too late. I was too late and I couldn't save her."

Scott crouched down beside him and placed a gentle, caring hand on his arm. "We can't save everyone," he murmured. "We all wish we could but we just can't save everyone." He rubbed Alan's arm gently and then addressed his other brother. "Virg, you take her. There'll be a mother out there somewhere waiting for news and she needs to know what's happened to her daughter. Alan, can you hand her to Virgil. Gently now."

Alan clung to the girl tighter than ever before and began to cry. "No, no, leave me alone. We need to take her home, Scott, don't you see? She can't stay here. Tin-Tin..."

Scott placed both his hands firmly on both of Alan's upper arms and held on tight. "It's not Tin-Tin, Alan. Tin-Tin's safe. She's safe at home. I promise."

"Tin-Tin?" Alan asked with a pleading voice. "She's dead Scott. I was too late."

"You were too late for this poor girl," Scott said. "…but Alan she's not Tin-Tin. You've got to let Virgil take her. You've got to let him take her back to her mother. Would you do that for me? Please? Then we can all go back home."

"Take her? To her mother? Yes, yes that's right." Alan was babbling now and Scott looked at Virgil worriedly. "She's not Tin-Tin. Not Tin-Tin 'cos Tin-Tin doesn't have a mother. Take her Virgil, take her back to her mother. Scott, I want to go home." As gently as if he was holding a newborn baby, Alan transferred the girl into Virgil's arms. The middle Tracy brother stood up slowly and carried her towards the waiting authorities.

As he approached the crowd an elderly lady began wailing and pulled away from the group to meet him. "My baby," she cried as she ran towards Virgil. "My baby. No, no, not my baby girl."

Virgil, with the distraught woman in tow, carried the girl into a nearby building where many of those wounded in the fire were being tended to. He spoke quietly to one of the locals who was acting as a medic and then quickly walked away.

~#~

After handing the girl to Virgil, Alan became almost non-responsive. Scott wrapped his arms around him and gently pulled him to his feet. He then guided his silent brother across the rescue site and through the great gaping doorway into the pod of Thunderbird 2. As he walked Alan slowly towards the flight deck Scott heard someone following and he soon realised that Gordon had abandoned the Domo once it was no longer doing its job. He pushed Alan gently in one of the passenger chairs in the cabin of Thunderbird 2, close behind where Virgil would be sitting and then turned to face Gordon.

The aquanaut was armed with a space blanket and moved forwards to wrap it around his brother. Scott silently conveyed his worry for Alan and then left him in Gordon's capable hands while he went back outside to speak to the people who had called them out in the first place.

~#~

Another loud crash emanated from outside and Scott hurried towards the door of the pod. The third and fourth floors of the former sweat shop had collapsed inwards and had taken the rest of the building down with them. Even though he'd known it before, Scott was saddened to think that there would be no further chance of survivors that day. He walked over to where Virgil was trying to calm the now distraught crowd and helped his brother stop several women who seemed hell bent on running to their deaths in the flames.

Scott, Virgil and the local police finally manage to calm the people down and made them understand that there was no way that there was anyone left alive inside the smouldering wreck of a building. There was nothing left now but burning timbers, rubble and piles of ash and International Rescue could do no more.

~#~

Scott helped Virgil pack the Mole, Domo and Firefly back into Thunderbird 2. The brothers then did the same with Mobile Control and Thunderbird 1 and once all the equipment was away, the four men and two ships took their leave of the site.

~#~

As was customary after a hard rescue, Scott piloted Thunderbird 1 slowly alongside her sister ship, the big green Thunderbird 2. Virgil took his usual spot as pilot of Two while Gordon attended to Alan who had almost completely shut down by that point.

When they arrived home Virgil left Gordon to do the post flight checks on Thunderbird 2 so he could take charge of Alan and escort the silent young man up to the control room. Scott arrived shortly before Alan and Virgil and was standing beside their father when the door covering Alan and Virgil swung open. Alan was cradled gently against Virgil's chest and despite being visible to both Jeff and Scott he made no immediate attempt to move out of Virgil's embrace.

Scott immediately looked at Jeff. "Father, it's…" He stopped when Alan suddenly pushed away from Virgil and ran across the room, down the stairs and out of sight.

"Alan," Jeff cried and he leapt to his feet and started to follow his youngest son.

Scott shot forwards and latched on to his father's arm. "Leave him, Father, he's in shock. He needs to find Tin-Tin. With any luck he'll be alright once he knows that she's alive and well."

"Okay." Jeff raised his eyebrows at his son's choice of words. "Scott, I think you and Virgil need to tell me exactly what's been going on, starting with why Alan is so much dirtier than the pair of you and finishing with why he's just run out of here like the hounds of hell were on his tail."

Scott winced and pointed to Jeff's chair, hinting that his father might want to sit back down. He and Virgil then told Jeff everything that had happened. They explained about the girl and the likeness that she had to Tin-Tin and they described how Alan had run into the building and got the girl out but that he had been too late to save her.

During a lull in the conversation the three men sat quietly. "So Alan saw a girl who looked a bit like Tin-Tin and ran into a burning building to save her," Jeff asked eventually. "…and the three of you couldn't stop him?"

Virgil looked over at Scott and shook his head. "No sir," he said. "One minute he was next to me, the next he was gone. It wouldn't have made sense to follow him into the flames; there would have just been two…or three of us to fish out instead of just the one."

Scott nodded his agreement. "As soon as he went inside I had Virgil concentrate the Firefly on the front of the building and the door in a hope that Alan'd see sense and turn around. I should have guessed he wouldn't though; this is Alan we're talking about after all said and done. Once he's decided on a course of action he's going to follow it through to the bitter end, no matter what the outcome. Oh and Father? The girl? She didn't just look a bit like Tin-Tin; she looked exactly like Tin-Tin and I think that's what upset Alan more than the fact that he hadn't saved her. His emotions got the better of him and he got a little muddled for a while but I don't for one moment believe that he really thought that she was Tin-Tin."

Virgil agreed. "I'm sure he'll be fine once he's proved to himself that Tin-Tin is okay. He had his mask and tank on the whole time he was in the fire and I couldn't detect any particular physical injuries when I checked him over before we came home. I think he's just badly shaken up at the moment."

"Okay," Jeff said with a sigh. "We'll just keep an eye on him for now but let's not make it too obvious. If he thinks we're watching him he'll do his damndest to make sure it looks like nothing's wrong and that'll do nobody any good. Now where's Gordon? Is he okay?"

"Gordon's fine, Father," Virgil replied. "I left him in the hangar, doing the checks on Thunderbird 2. He was looking after Alan while Scott and I put everything away and also during the flight home so I thought he could do with a quiet moment to himself. I'm sure he'll be up in a minute."


	2. Chapter 2

~#~ (Chapter 2)

Gordon appeared less than two minutes later and looked around in confusion. "Where's Al?" he asked. "You shouldn't have let him go off alone. He's not exactly stable at the moment."

Scott frowned. "That's a bit of an exaggeration, don't you think? I mean, I know he's upset but the island's not all that big and it's pretty much guaranteed that we know where he's headed."

Gordon shrugged, "I suppose so and I guess if anyone can calm him down after the day he's had then it'll be Tin-Tin."

~#~

Alan left the control room and ran across the sitting room, out through the door and down the steps towards the pool. When no-one tried to stop him he carried on running until he eventually fell to his knees on the soft sand of the beach. He knelt there for a moment, not quite sure what to do with himself until he realised that Tin-Tin was approaching slowly from the pool area. In his haste to get out of the house Alan had run straight past her without even noticing.

Tin-Tin had seen that Alan was upset when he fled past her and she approached him slowly with her hands held out in front of her. "Alan," she said softly. "Don't run. Whatever it is, I'm sure we can work it out."

Alan let out a strangled sob and threw himself into her arms. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders and buried his face in her neck. "I was too late," he mumbled. "I was too slow and too late and…and I thought I'd lost you."

Tin-Tin wrapped her arms around Alan as best she could with him clinging to her neck. "Oh Alan," she murmured. "You couldn't lose me, I simply wouldn't let you. Whatever happened out there today that got you so badly shaken?"

Alan shook his head against her neck and his sobs increased as Tin-Tin's words made him think back to what had happened during the rescue. Tin-Tin soon realised that she was going to get no sense out of the young man and gently coaxed him into a sitting position. This wasn't made easy by the fact that Alan wouldn't ease his grip on her shoulders but eventually both Tin-Tin and Alan were sitting side by side on the soft, warm sand.

Tin-Tin stroked Alan's hair and murmured nonsense to him as he clung to her. Once he'd been quiet for a few minutes she tried again to gently coax him into speak to her about what had happened on the rescue. He lifted his head to answer and then shook his head when he found that he didn't have the words to explain how he was feeling.

Seeing the tears in his eyes and hearing the renewed hitch in his breath, Tin-Tin pulled him back down against her neck and within minutes she realised that the young man had fallen asleep.

~#~

Tin-Tin sat with Alan on the beach for a long while, trying to fathom what could have possibly happened to upset the youngest Tracy boy so badly. Eventually she remembered her communicator and carefully pressed the button that would connect her to Scott.

"Tin-Tin? What can I do for you, Honey?" Scott's voice came loudly out of Tin-Tin's watch and she hissed quietly and slapped her hand over the device before it could disturb Alan.

"Scott," she hissed against her hand, knowing that the microphone in the watch was delicate enough that Scott would hear her. "Speak quietly or you'll disturb Alan. I'm going to uncover you now. Please be quiet."

Tin-Tin slowly removed her hand and was met with Scott's face wearing a bemused expression.

"Hello again," he said, quieter this time. "Would you mind telling me what…Is that Alan?" Scott suddenly worked out that the scraggy blue and blonde mess hanging around Tin-Tin's neck was his youngest brother. "What happened there?"

Tin-Tin tried to shrug and then realised it was impossible. "I don't really know," she admitted. "Scott, what happened today? Something obviously put Alan all out of sorts...he came flying down here like…like, I don't know what…and then, when I tried to talk to him, he sort of fell apart before falling asleep."

Scott grimaced. "I'm sorry, Honey," he said apologetically. "You're right. Something did happen but it's something I'd rather discuss face to face. Where are you? You're obviously not going anywhere so I guess I'll come to you."

Tin-Tin nodded. "That's sort of why I called. We're on the beach, not far from the bottom of the steps but the tide's on its way in and there's no way I can move Alan without waking him."

Scott nodded this time. "Sleep may be the best thing for him at the moment. If he's sleeping then he's not mulling over what happened. I'm on my way and I'll explain everything when I get there."

~#~

Scott walked silently down the steps and soon spotted Tin-Tin and Alan sitting just a few feet from the edge of the ocean.

"Hey," he said quietly as he approached. "Is he still sleeping?"

"Scott." Tin-Tin's relief was evident in that one, quietly breathed word. "I don't know what's wrong with him but this just isn't like Alan at all."

Scott crouched down in front of the pair and gently rested his hand on Alan's back. "I know what's wrong," he whispered. "He did a stupid thing and I lambasted him without finding out why he'd done it in the first place. I…we…Virgil and I thought that he'd be alright once he got back here and saw that you were okay. I guess we were wrong."

Tin-Tin shook her head and then looked at the ever-approaching ocean. "You're making about as much sense as Alan was, Scott…and we're all going to get wet if we stay here much longer. I need you to take Alan inside. You can explain everything else once we get into the house."

Scott nodded and gently released Alan's stranglehold on Tin-Tin. Alan grumbled slightly but soon fell quiet again and Scott was able to lift him into his arms and carry him into the house without any further disturbance.

~#~

Gordon, who had been watching from the window, ran out and pulled the door open as Scott climbed the last few steps up to the house.

"Is he alright?" he whispered as Scott approached. "What happened?"

With his arms full of Alan, Scott motioned his head in the direction of the bedrooms. "I'll explain in a minute," he hissed. "Get in front and do the other doors. This isn't as easy as it used to be."

Gordon hesitated and then hurried to overtake when he realised that Scott had continued his journey across the room. He opened all the doors and then ran across Alan's room and threw back the bedcovers so Scott would be able to deposit the baby of the family directly into his bed.

Scott entered the room sideways and then turned around and gently lay Alan down. Alan frowned in his sleep, mewed quietly and then held out a hand with a plaintive squeak of 'Tin'.

Tin-Tin slipped around to the other side of the bed and reached over to grasp the outstretched hand. She held it against her cheek and then kissed it gently. "Shhh," she whispered softly. "I'm here, Alan. Go back to sleep."

Alan hadn't truly woken up but Tin-Tin's soft words filtered through into his subconscious and he sank back into a deeper slumber. Tin-Tin smiled sadly and leaned across to gently smooth the frown lines off his forehead with her free hand.

Gordon watched from the doorway as Tin-Tin carefully climbed to her feet and gingerly sat on the bed beside Alan. "I'll go and tell Dad that he won't be able to debrief Alan until the morning," he said quietly. "He was hoping to catch him tonight but that's obviously not going to happen now."

Without waiting for a reply, Gordon slipped into the corridor and pulled the door closed as he left.

Tin-Tin watched as the door clicked shut. "Now, Scott, will you please tell me what happened?"


	3. Chapter 3

~#~ (Chapter 3)

Scott set about stripping Alan of his boots and sash and then carefully peeled his brother's uniform off him, leaving the young blonde Tracy clad in his undershirt and boxers. He tucked the covers around Alan and gently rubbed his back as he talked Tin-Tin through the traumatic events from earlier that day.

When he had finished explaining everything, Scott offered to sit with Alan but Tin-Tin pointed out that it was her that Alan needed so she sent him away. She remained on the bed for more than an hour before deciding that she might as well get comfortable and extracted her hand from Alan long enough to strip off her tear-stained blouse which she replaced with one of Alan's t-shirts. She then took off her shorts, wriggled out of her bra and slipped into the bed where she gathered Alan into her arms and waited for the nightmares to begin.

~#~

Tin-Tin clung to Alan as he cried out for her in his sleep. Several times she managed to calm him by stroking his hair or face and speaking gently to him. This seemed to soothe him long enough for him to settle back to sleep but shortly after midnight a particularly vicious set of nightmares began to plague the young man and nothing that Tin-Tin tried would soothe him.

Without warning Alan's eyes flew open. He howled, threw himself against Tin-Tin's chest and hugged her so tightly that she could barely breathe. She wrapped her arms around his blonde head, kissed his hair and whispered nonsense to him as he sobbed against her.

"I thought you were dead. I thought you were dead," he cried, repeating the same thing over and over again.

"It wasn't me, Alan," Tin-Tin replied softly. "Scott told me what happened and it wasn't me. I'm here and that's exactly where I'm staying. It wasn't me. _She_ wasn't me."

Alan sniffled loudly. "Not dead?"

"Not dead," she confirmed and leant down to kiss his sweaty forehead. "Not me," she continued and kissed him again. "I'm here." This kiss was diverted when, at the last moment, Alan lifted his face and brushed Tin-Tin's lips with a gentle kiss of his own. Tin-Tin made to move her face away but Alan followed and captured her lips with a longer, firmer kiss.

Gradually and almost seeming to be working on automatic, Alan raised himself up on his right elbow. Tin-Tin was unsure of exactly when he managed to move her but she soon found herself lying flat on her back with Alan leaning over her, kissing her passionately.

~#~

Alan's movements became less automatic and more fluid as he supported most of his bodyweight on his right arm and buried the fingers of his left hand in Tin-Tin's thick, black hair. He massaged her neck for a short while before Tin-Tin became aware of his kisses changing. They morphed from passionate into something more desperate and primal and Alan soon shifted his weight onto his left arm and allowed his right hand to gently explore Tin-Tin's soft, warm body.

The t-shirt which she had borrowed offered little resistance against the wandering hand and Tin-Tin had a brief moment of panic when Alan reached behind the small of her back and pulled her close against his very aroused and gently thrusting body.

"Alan," she squeaked. "Alan, stop."

Alan, to his credit, froze immediately and raised himself slightly higher above Tin-Tin and gazed into her eyes. "Need you," he whispered. "Need to feel you. Need to know you're alive. Tin, I need…you."

With that he leant forwards and captured Tin-Tin's lips again in a bruising kiss. His hand slipped from the small of her back and moved down to clasp hold of a firm, warm buttock. He kneaded the flesh there for a short while, all the time gently thrusting against Tin-Tin until eventually he could wait no longer. He adjusted his grip on her and gently pulled her panties down. Moments later he was also free of his shorts and Tin-Tin let out a quiet cry as she realised that the final barrier between them was now gone.

Alan pulled back to meet her eyes in the darkened room. "Please," he murmured. "Tin, please…need…need you."

Tin-Tin swallowed deeply and closed her eyes against the burning desire in Alan's wide blue orbs. She took several long, slow breaths and then opened her eyes, reached up to grasp Alan's hair, pulled him towards her and kissed him deeply.

Alan slowly lowered his arms and eased his weight downwards until he was covering Tin-Tin. Her legs automatically parted to grant him access and he gently pressed forwards, only to pause a moment later when Tin-Tin let out a pain-filled whimper. Alan rubbed his cheek gently against her face, lapped up the lone tear which had escaped from her eye and then peppered her face with feather-light kisses until she relaxed.

Almost against his will, Alan slid forwards and sunk deeply into Tin-Tin's body. She let out a pitiful mewl and tried to scramble away from him but Alan caught hold of her hip and gently held her in place as he remained completely motionless inside her.

Long moments passed while Tin-Tin struggled to calm herself down enough to relax again. She toyed with Alan's hair while she mulled through the enormity of what they were doing and several tears made their way down her face to mingle with her hair as she reached out a leg and wrapped it behind one of Alan's knees. She gazed up at him, blinked and then gently nodded her head.

Alan gently pulled himself back and then slid home again. With each pass the movement became easier and more fluid and he was soon pumping hard. The barrage of new sensations proved too much for him though and completion came very shortly afterwards. Once he was spent he collapsed forwards, half on and half off Tin-Tin and wrapped his arms around her.

Tin-Tin was struggling to process just what had happened so passively allowed herself to be bundled into his arms and within minutes the pair had fallen fast asleep.


	4. Chapter 4

~#~ (Chapter 4)

When Alan awoke the next morning he was alone. He rolled onto his back, stared at the ceiling for several minutes and then gasped, sat bolt upright in the bed and patted down the bedcovers in a clearly futile attempt to locate his bed-mate. "Tin," he whispered softly. "Oh god, Tin."

Alan pulled his undershirt off and threw it into the corner of the room before winding the sheet tightly around his waist and hurrying into the bathroom. He had a quick shower, washed his hair and then dressed in a t-shirt and a pair of lightweight running shorts. That done he wandered out of his room, down the corridor and out into the house.

~#~

Scott, Virgil and Gordon were engrossed in a particularly noisy debate in the centre of the lounge when Alan walked into the room. The discussion had clearly been going on for some time and involved a large number of paper planes, several citrus fruit and Gordon being pinned to the floor by his shoulders. "Ah ha," Gordon called triumphantly. "Now you've had it. My backup has arrived. Al, this isn't a fair fight. Help save me from the oldies so we can reclaim the lounge in the name of youth and vitality."

Alan stopped dead in the middle of the room and took in the tableau. He looked down at Gordon, then at Scott and finally at Virgil who was the one who was holding Gordon down. "Nah," he said softly. "Sorry Gords, you'll have to fight your own battles today. I've got to find Tin-Tin. Have any of you seen her this morning?"

Scott shook his head and then chuckled as Virgil started a vicious tickle-attack just below Gordon's ribs. The aquanaut squealed loudly and curled into a ball, trying to get away from his brother as much as his pinned shoulders would allow. "Beach," he yelled. "She's on the beeeaargh, nooo fair. Two 'gainst one. Virg, get off me."

Alan smiled and nodded gently at Scott who sat himself atop the coffee table to watch Gordon's counter-attack. "Don't forget that Dad still needs to talk to you," he murmured. "I'd imagine that he'll wait a while longer though, if you want to find Tin-Tin first." Scott nodded towards the door as if giving his little brother permission to leave. "Go and find her. I'll keep these two out of your way for a bit but please, Al, don't forget to go and see Dad at some point this morning."

~#~

Alan wandered down the poolside stairs, across the patio and stepped onto the soft warm sand at the top of the beach. He immediately spotted Tin-Tin sitting a fair distance away and headed towards her. He was concerned when she didn't move as he approached and paused uncertainly. He took in her hunched posture and the fact that she was hugging her knees and called out softly so as not to scare her when he suddenly appeared beside her.

He walked the last few yards to where she was sitting, lowered himself to the sand beside her and rested his head gently on her shoulder. "Hey," he murmured. "You okay?"

Tin-Tin shook her head and reached up to wipe her eyes with the handkerchief that was clasped tightly in her right hand. She blew her nose, screwed up the handkerchief and then looked at Alan with red rimmed eyes. His heart cracked a little at the devastation on her face and he pulled her into a hug and wrapped his arms tightly around her. "I'm sorry," he whispered. "Tin, I'm sorry. I wasn't myself yesterday and I wasn't thinking properly. Don't hate me. Please don't hate me."

Tin-Tin snuggled deeply against his chest and sighed loudly. "I don't hate you, Alan," she murmured. "I could never hate you but we can't let that happen again. Not until after…not until…well…not for a long time."

Alan kissed the top of Tin-Tin's hair and stroked her back. "Not until after we're married. That's what you're trying not to say, isn't it?"

Tin-Tin let out a brief giggle and nodded against him. "I always imagined we would get round to it at some point. The marriage that is, not the…um…other thing."

"Me too," Alan replied. "But the marriage _and_ the…er…the other thing. Look, Tin, I know it's a little late but would you let me buy you a ring on the promise that I won't make you do it again? At least not until the ring is changed for another, more significant one?"

Tin-Tin froze and then peeled herself away from Alan's chest and surprised him by kissing him soundly. "You didn't 'make' me do anything last night, Alan. There were two of us there and while it wasn't my idea I did eventually agree to it. You asked, I replied and the rest, as they say, is history."

"So what are you saying?" Alan frowned slightly and a look of confusion crossed his face. "That you wouldn't wear my ring? I…I kind of liked the idea. Even if it didn't mean…well, that it didn't mean anything official but more like…I don't know, like a promise for the future."

Tin-Tin smiled sweetly and kissed him again. "I like the idea a lot, Alan and I'd be honoured to wear your ring. I think both our fathers would approve of us making a promise to one another, don't you?"

Alan nodded. "I do, although I might not survive long enough to even buy the ring if your father finds out what we did last night."

Tin-Tin squealed loudly, pushed Alan down onto the sand and then sat on his chest with her hands over his mouth. "Don't even joke about that. Father must never find out about last night. He'd be so disappointed in me. At least with the ring I can show him that we mean to behave, even if I omit to tell him about the one time that we didn't."

Alan peered up at Tin-Tin and gently nipped her hand when she failed to remove it quickly enough. Tin-Tin pulled her hand away from his mouth and ran her fingernails gently down the side of his face. Alan rested his hands on her thighs and lay placidly as she moved from his face and started fiddling with his hair. "Tin," he asked softly. "What are you doing?"

Tin-Tin smiled and ran a nail across his forehead, down his nose and gently pulled at his bottom lip. "Playing," she replied vaguely. "...and exploring. You had your turn at exploring last night, so be quiet and let me have a chance."

"That's a fair point, I suppose." Alan smiled devilishly and squeezed each of Tin-Tin's legs before removing his hands and lying back with them beneath his head. "I am at your mercy, fair maiden. Do with me what you will."

~#~

Tin-Tin kept her 'playing' well above the level of Alan's chest and eventually tired of the game. She kissed him, slid down onto the sand and rested her head against his shoulder with a soft sigh. "We should go back to the house," she said sadly. "People will be starting to wonder where we are."

Alan lifted his left arm into his line of vision and peered at his watch. "Nah," he replied. "We're good for another hour or so. It'll be fine just as long as I speak to Dad before midday." His forehead crumpled slightly. "I have to go through what happened yesterday but I'm not sure I can. I know it's only Dad and Scott and Virgil and Gords but I don't want them to think any less of me. I don't want them looking down on me and I don't want Scott's lecture about following orders or Virgil's speech about putting myself in harm's way without good reason. I know that I shouldn't have gone in there when I did. Honestly, I know I shouldn't have done but I couldn't…and I mean I really couldn't not go in. I couldn't leave you…I mean _her_ …I couldn't leave her to burn to death behind those bars."

Tin-Tin gently patted his chest. "I know," she murmured. "And I'm sure the others understand. If they lecture you about walking into danger then you're just going to have to remember that they're be doing it purely because they were worried about you and that they're scared you'll do something like it again in the future. Imagine it from their point of view, Alan; you run straight into a burning building without a word to anyone of where you were going or why. No-one can follow you due to the flames and they're all terrified that they'll never see you again. Minutes pass and they don't know whether you're alive or dead and only after what must have felt like forever, you reappear and collapse into Virgil's arms. How do you think something like that would have felt from their point of view?"

"Bad," Alan replied. "Scott has enough on his plate without me adding to his problems out in the field. Gordon wouldn't have known what was going on from where he was sitting but I'm sure Virgil would have wanted to follow me. Scott would have had to order him not to which would have strained tensions between the pair of them and then, as you said, I reappeared and just kind of fell out of the door with her…um…with her in my arms."

Tin-Tin patted him again. "You'll be fine," she said slowly. "…if you tell the others exactly what you just told me. It's obvious that you understand why they were upset with you. You know that what you did wasn't particularly advisable but it was done for a good and perfectly valid reason."

Alan nodded, sighed loudly and tipped his head to one side until his chin was resting on Tin-Tin's hair. "Thank you," he whispered. "Thank you for being here and for listening to me. Will you come with me when I go in and see Dad? Will you come and stay with me?"

Tin-Tin smiled and reached up to kiss Alan's cheek. "I will. Your father will understand, Alan so you don't really need my backup but, yes, I will come with you."

~#~

Alan set the alarm on his watch so that he wouldn't forget to go inside and the pair remained on the beach, side by side, until it went off. They walked, hand in hand, up into the house and separated only when Tin-Tin reached the door to one of the bathrooms. Alan slunk through the villa to his own room, washed his face, patted the last of the sand off his clothes and then went to collect Tin-Tin on his way to Jeff's office.


	5. Chapter 5

~#~ (Chapter 5)

The debriefing went better than Alan could have hoped and there were no negative repercussions other than Jeff making him sit out of the next couple of rescues. The Tracy patriarch was worried that Alan's experience in the burning building would come back to him and cause problems at an inopportune moment but the youngest Tracy boy stayed completely stable for the next few weeks.

Jeff was conscious that his son was sticking closer to Tin-Tin than usual and became aware of the ring that appeared on her finger several days before Tin-Tin and Alan finally told him about it. Alan admitted that it had taken some time to pluck up the courage to talk to Jeff about the promise ring even though he and Tin-Tin had spoken to Kyrano before Tin-Tin had even put it on.

Jeff chuckled softly, told the pair that he was happy for them and reminded them that his door was always open to them if they felt the need to talk. He pulled his son into a tight embrace, ruffled his hair and told him he was proud that Alan was acting responsibly and planning for the future. He released Alan, gave Tin-Tin a gentle hug and then sent the pair on their way.

~#~

Alan went up to Five a couple of days after talking to Jeff and carried out his monthly rotation up on the space station. The world stayed relatively crisis-free so International Rescue were only called out a couple of times and a peaceful calm fell over the island. Gordon spent a lot of time in the pool; Scott, John and Virgil split their time between the beach, the shooting range and the games room and Alan spent an inordinate number of hours talking to Tin-Tin on the vid-phone.

~#~

Things were still quiet when Alan and John swapped places again until one morning when Gordon climbed the diving board in preparation for his early morning swim. A gentle breeze was blowing from the direction of Kyrano & Tin-Tin's home and on it Gordon could hear raised voices. He could make out two distinct voices and identified them as both Kyrano and Tin-Tin but as they were both shouting in Malay he couldn't understand what was being said.

The aquanaut was unnerved by the uncharacteristic behaviour from the normally quiet-mannered and unflappable Kyrano. He sat down atop the diving board and looked worriedly in the direction of the Kyranos' cabin.

He had been watching for less than five minutes when Kyrano burst out of his front door followed by a visibly distraught Tin-Tin who was dragging on his arm in an attempt to halt his flight up the slope to the Tracy villa. Kyrano paused, turned to his daughter and pried her fingers open. He leant down, folded her in a tight hug and kissed her head before gently turning her and urging her to go back inside.

Tin-Tin reluctantly went back into the cabin but paused in the doorway and Gordon could see her watching Kyrano's somewhat-slower progress up the slope until he turned the corner into the villa.

Nothing untoward immediately happened once Kyrano had disappeared so Gordon shrugged, stood up and launched himself off the diving board and into the cool water below him. He started swimming slow lengths of the pool to warm up his muscles but found himself musing over what he'd just seen rather than concentrating on what he was supposed to be doing. He soon realised that he was doing more musing than swimming and eventually gave up and climbed from the pool.

He wrapped a towel around his waist, slipped his shoes on and wandered into the house, only to be confronted with raised voices for the second time that day. He stood in the lounge, cocked his head to one side and realised that the voices were emanating from Jeff's office. Looking at his watch, Gordon could see that, barring Scott who could often be found wandering the house at all hours of the day or night, it was still far earlier than anyone would normally be out of bed. He crept across the room and pressed his ear to the office door just long enough to establish that the raised voices belonged to his father and Kyrano. Kyrano seemed to be in some distress and phrases of Malay peppered his speech. Jeff was obviously trying but failing to calm his oldest friend down so Gordon gingerly tapped on the door and pushed it open in the hope that he could offer some assistance.

"Hey," he murmured. "You two okay in here? Do you want me to get Scott or some drinks or…something?"

Kyrano was already seated on one of the desk chairs but as Gordon entered he visibly deflated and sunk into the chair with his hands over his face. Jeff slumped back from where he'd been standing in front of his friend and perched on the edge of his desk. "Gordon," he said softly. "Could you go and get dressed, as quickly and as quietly as you can and then meet us down in the hangar." He held up a hand to ward off the questions which Gordon was bound to ask. "Please, Gordon. As quick as you can and not a word to your brothers."

Gordon nodded silently and turned to leave the room. As an afterthought he turned back to Kyrano, laid a hand on the older man's shoulder and squeezed it gently. "I won't be long."

~#~

The warm air around the island had almost completely dried Gordon by the time he reached his room so it was simply a case of him stripping off his swimming trunks, rubbing a towel over his hair and nether regions and then throwing on a set of clothes. He slipped his feet back into his shoes and quietly crossed the room to slide the door open. He then peeked out into the corridor, checked that the coast was clear and stepped outside.

Scott's door slid open as Gordon drew level with it and a moment later Scott stepped into the corridor. "You didn't have much of a swim today," he commented. "Are you feeling alright?"

"I'm okay," Gordon replied with a shrug. "My mind just wasn't into the swimming this morning. I couldn't switch it off; you know how it gets sometimes."

Scott smiled tightly. "Maybe you can have another try later on. It's not like we're busy at the moment."

Gordon shrugged again as the pair crossed the lounge and entered the kitchen. His stomach grumbled loudly and he groaned as he realised that he wasn't going to have time for breakfast. "If Grandma's not up yet then you'll have to fix your own breakfast, Scott," he said quickly. "I've got an errand to run for Dad. I...I guess I'll see you later."

Scott looked around the kitchen and realised that the room hadn't been set up that morning. "You obviously know something, Gords. What's going on? Is Kyrano sick?"

Gordon shook his head. "I don't know," he replied truthfully. "…maybe but Dad asked me not to talk to anyone so I can't say anything. I've got to meet them downstairs. I'm guessing we're leaving but I don't know for certain. I don't know if we're going, how long we're going to be or when we'll be back."

"Well that clears absolutely nothing up. If Father doesn't want to fill me in on what's going on then that's his prerogative but someone's got to keep this island running. Starting, it seems, with breakfast." Scott began opening cupboards and then set about laying the table. "Go, Gords, if you're going. Get gone before the others arrive and start asking questions. Oh and take a couple of these to keep you going."

Scott leaned across the table, pulled the fruit bowl towards himself and launched an apple in Gordon's direction. Gordon caught it as well as the second apple that flew his way and then quickly left the room. He hurried through the house, down into the hangar and pulled up sharply as he rounded the corner and found Tracy 2 idling in front of the door. Jeff was nowhere to be seen but Tin-Tin was sitting on a suitcase with her head in her hands and Kyrano was pacing back and forth in front of her.

Jeff appeared at the door of the plane as Gordon drew level with Kyrano. He beckoned his son up the steps and spoke quietly to him. "Gordon, I'm sorry for springing this on you with no explanation but I need you to take Kyrano and Tin-Tin to the farm for me. Please don't ask why and don't question the Kyranos either. If they want to talk to you then they will, otherwise I just want you to fly them to Kansas, see that they're set up and secure and then leave them there. If you have anything in particular that you need to do while you're off the island then you may as well get it done while you're out. I won't give you a curfew or tell you what time to be back but I would like you back sometime before tomorrow morning. Okay?"

Gordon looked around the hangar and saw that Kyrano had stopped his pacing and was crouched in front of Tin-Tin who was sobbing loudly. It was all Gordon could do to stop himself running over and gathering her in his arms but he got the distinct impression that such a move wouldn't be welcome. "Well I…umm…I guess I'm ready to go when they are."

Kyrano rose from his crouch and gently coaxed Tin-Tin to her feet. He picked up the case that she had been sitting on, crossed the short distance to the steps and handed it to Jeff who took it and stowed it securely inside the plane.

Jeff left Gordon at the top of the steps and wandered over to where Tin-Tin was waiting. He spoke quietly to her for a moment and then pursed his lips as Kyrano took hold of her arm and directed her towards the plane. Jeff shook his head unhappily and walked over to the panel that controlled the door of the hangar. He leant heavily against the panel and Gordon saw his back heave as he let out a heavy sigh.

Gordon frowned and watched his father for a moment longer until Tin-Tin and Kyrano reached the stairs up to the plane. He stepped backwards to let them past and found himself becoming even more confused when Tin-Tin baulked at the door. It looked to Gordon as it she wanted to turn tail and run rather than getting in the plane and if it hadn't been for Kyrano following her, he thought she may well have done so.

Kyrano put his hand in the centre of his daughter's back and gently pushed her inside. He nodded respectfully to Gordon as he passed him and then fussed around getting Tin-Tin strapped in and settled into one of the luxurious, well-padded seats.

~#~

Gordon took one last glance out of the door as he reached out to swing it closed. Jeff met his concerned gaze, gently shook his head and turned to the control panel beside him. He punched the appropriate code into the panel, pressed a large red button on the front and leant back against the rock wall as the hangar door began to open.

Gordon swung the door shut and nodded to Kyrano and Tin-Tin who were seated in the cabin. "Almost ready," he murmured. "Just two minutes and we'll be on our way." Kyrano inclined his head in acknowledgement of Gordon's words but Tin-Tin remained mute and stared at her hands which were clasped together on her knee. Gordon sent a concerned look in Kyrano's direction and then clambered into the cockpit and strapped himself in. A light began flashing on the display in front of him which alerted him to the fact that the hangar door had opened completely and he gently eased the plane forwards onto the runway.

Once they were clear of the doors he quickly accelerated, very soon they were airborne and speeding away from the island.


	6. Chapter 6

~#~ (Chapter 6)

Jeff closed the hangar door and headed slowly back into the house, deep in thought. He wandered into the kitchen and stopped dead at the sight that greeted him. Scott, wearing Ruth's flower-patterned baking apron, was standing at the cooker whipping up pancakes like they were going out of fashion. Virgil and Alan were sitting at the table and as Jeff watched, Scott turned and deposited a plateful of perfectly formed pancakes in front of them. He turned back to the cooker and pulled another plate, this time piled high with bacon, out of the oven where it had been keeping warm and spotted Jeff as he turned back and placed it beside the pancakes. "Everything okay?"

Jeff shrugged and then groaned and reached up and scrubbed his hands over his face. "Not really but it's not something I'm going to discuss over the breakfast table. Alan, I need to speak to you. Finish your breakfast, by all means but I want you in my office before you move on to…whatever it is that you've got planned for the day."

Alan frowned slightly but wisely kept quiet and nodded. He looked questioningly at Scott and then Virgil but received a small shrug from both of them so he replied with a shrug of his own and stabbed his fork through a large pile of bacon, dragged it onto his plate and began to tuck in.

Scott flipped a couple of pancakes and a pile of bacon onto a plate and set it at the head of the table before wandering across to where Jeff was standing. "You've kind of stalled there, Father," he murmured softly. "I don't know how long you've been up but you should probably sit down and eat something." He gently nudged Jeff the short distance to his chair and pushed him into it. "Sit there, eat your breakfast and I don't expect to see you move before your plate's empty."

Jeff shook himself and chuckled as Scott shook a spatula at him in a near-perfect imitation of his grandmother. "Yes sir…ma'am…sir."

Scott raised his eyebrows at his father and let out an amused snort. "Whatever. Guys, I'm not Grandma so I can't do everything in one sitting. Eggs and tomatoes will be ready in a minute for anyone who wants them."

~#~

Alan slowly worked his way through everything that was given to him and then sat quietly and waited for Jeff to finish. Jeff, who was only picking at his food, nodded gently to acknowledge him and then stared down at his plate, deep in thought until Ruth wandered into the room a moment later.

The old woman stepped up behind Alan, kissed him on the head and smiled at his empty plate. "Are you waiting for seconds, dear? I can make you something if Kyra..."

"Kyrano's not here, Mother." Jeff gave up with his pretense at eating and pushed his plate away. "Scott made breakfast today and Alan's eaten as well as any of us. He doesn't need ba…um…babying any more. He's fully grown and can decide for himself if he's full or not."

Ruth raised an eyebrow at her son and shook her head. "Don't you take that tone with me, Jefferson Tracy. I only asked the boy…"

Jeff let out an explosive breath and slammed his hands down hard on either side of his placemat, shaking the table so hard that the crockery rattled. He growled, low in his throat, pushed his chair backwards and leapt to his feet. "Mother," he snarled. "That's enough. You…" He jabbed a finger in Alan's direction, "My office, now. You…" Jeff attempted to rein in his ire and not physically shout at his elderly mother. "…I had a rude awakening, rather too early for my liking this morning and I am really not in the mood to explain myself. Later, maybe but not now."

Jeff realised that Alan had fled the room and he breathed heavily to try and calm himself. "Scott, Virgil, I need you to lock the island down for me. I need you to close down the boathouse and the hangar as well so that your brother can't try to follow Gordon to Kansas."

"Gordon's in Kansas? What's he doi…" Virgil found himself pinned with a stern look from both Jeff and Scott and held his hands up in front of himself. "Whoa. Forget I asked. I don't want to know. I'll do the boathouse, Scott; you do the hangar and…I guess I'll meet you by the pool when we're done."

Scott nodded and stood up in order to undo the apron which was still tied around his waist. He laid it over the back of his chair, winked at his grandmother and then gave Jeff a concerned look before grabbing Virgil's arm and pushing him from the room.

Ruth turned to find that Jeff had started pacing back and forth behind his chair. He was flushed and breathing heavier than he should have been but seemed unaware of what was going on around him. Ruth frowned at her son's uncharacteristic behaviour for a moment and then positioned herself in front of him and dragged him to a stop.

"Jefferson," she murmured. "Whatever's gotten into you this morning? You've hardly touched your breakfast, you've driven the boys from the room and you're wound tighter than a coiled spring. Talk to me, Jeff. I'm worried about you."

Jeff closed his eyes and let out a long, slow breath as he clung to the hand which Ruth had on his arm. "I can't," he whispered, opening his eyes and looking at his mother with pain in his eyes. "Not…not yet."

"Later?" Ruth nodded sadly. "Yes, you said that before. I hope you realise I'm going to hold you to that. You can't get away with behaviour like this without an explanation. It's not good enough, Jeff, really it isn't."

Despite his mood, Jeff chuckled and pulled Ruth into a hug. "I know," he groaned. "…and I'm sorry but I promise I'll explain everything later. Maybe over a drink or three."

"So it's a three drink problem, is it?" Ruth murmured. "Oh dear."

Jeff nodded. "Oh dear, indeed. Now, Mother, you need to let me go. I need to go to my office and I'd better find Alan there waiting for me. If I don't then you may do well to enlist Scott and Virgil's help because it's going to take both of them to stop me from inflicting serious bodily on the little fool."

Ruth took a step back and frowned at her son. "Don't do anything stupid, Jeff. He's still your son, no matter what he's done."

Jeff grumbled something beneath his breath, placed a chaste kiss on Ruth's forehead and walked away.


	7. Chapter 7

~#~ (Chapter 7)

Luckily for Alan he had done exactly what he'd been told and Jeff found him sitting on one of the office chairs, looking pale, worried and hugging his knees. "Alan," he said softly as he entered the room and sat down at his desk. "Alan, son, look at me."

Alan rested his chin on his knees and stared at his father. "What have I done?" he whispered. "…or what has Gordon said I've done 'cos you've sent him away and I honestly can't think of anything I've done that warrants the balling out that I'm obviously about to get."

Jeff groaned and scrubbed his hands across his face before sitting his elbows on the desktop and resting his eyes on his clenched fists. He remained this way for several minutes with Alan staring silently at him until the younger Tracy could stand it no longer. "Dad. Sir. Please. Tell me what's going on."

Jeff groaned again and sat back on his chair so he could see his youngest son. "Tin-Tin," he softly.

"Tin-Tin?" Alan frowned. "What about her?"

Alan watched as his father let out a deep sigh and began to absentmindedly fiddle with the wedding band which he still wore in memory of his late wife. "Dad? Tin-Tin? What about her?"

Jeff stretched his hands out in front of him and looked at them. "You gave Tin-Tin a ring," he murmured. "…and you told me that it was a promise ring."

Alan nodded. "Yes. It…it was a promise for the future. For…well, kind of…It was kind of supposed to be replaced with a better…more proper ring at some point. If you know what I mean?"

Jeff pursed his lips and nodded. "Yes, I understand that but I was also let to believe that it meant…that it meant you were intending to…um…behave yourself, at least where Tin-Tin was concerned."

Alan frowned. "Yes. That's exactly what it meant and I don't know what you mean by 'where Tin-Tin is concerned'. I'm not doing _that_ with anyone other than Tin-Tin."

It was Jeff's turn to frown. "So you…um…are? With…er…her?"

"No!" Alan jumped to his feet and stared down at his father. "That's not what I meant. Stop twisting what I'm saying to make me sound bad."

"Alan," Jeff replied quietly. "Please sit down and stop shouting at me. I'm just trying to establish a few things, to get them clear in my head and your yelling isn't conducive to me being able to do so."

Alan threw himself back in the chair with a loud exhalation of breath. "Would you just come out and tell me what this is about. Then I can get back to doing absolutely nothing for the rest of the day. I can't get in trouble if I'm not doing anything, now can I?"

"Enough of your lip, young man," Jeff reproached him. "Now, I'd prefer to conduct this conversation like adults but if you're going to pitch a fit every time it doesn't go your way then I'd gladly reduce it to a whole other, much lower level for you. Which way do you want to play it?"

Alan gnawed on his thumb nail for a moment and then rolled his eyes. "I guess I'm big enough to do it the 'grown up' way but only if you promise not to start yelling at me again. You do that and I'm gonna opt for the kiddy version of whatever lecture's coming up."

Jeff ground his teeth together and refused to rise to the bait that his youngest son was dangling in front of him. "Okay. So. You bought Tin-Tin a ring."

"Yes."

Jeff nodded. "And you promised to behave?"

"Yes."

"And did you?" Jeff spoke softly but took care to watch Alan's body language for any sign that he might not be telling the truth.

"Yes." Alan frowned this time and pulled his legs back onto the chair so he could hug his knees again.

Jeff raised an eyebrow. He was certain he knew the truth, even if his son was saying otherwise. "No, you didn't."

"Yes, I did," Alan cried. "I did. We did. We…we both did. Dad, the only reason I don't have a ring of my own is because I'd have to leave it off most of the time. I wouldn't be able to wear it when we go out on the rescues and it'd either get damaged or would damage me if I was wearing it when I was working on the machines. We realised it would spend more time on the shelf in my bathroom than it would on my finger so we just got Tin-Tin one and she wears it all the time. You know she does. You've seen it."

A shadow of doubt flittered through Jeff's mind as he listened to Alan's impassioned words but then the bud of an idea began to form and he nodded. "I've seen it and I believe you, Alan but what about before?"

Alan frowned again. "Before what?"

"Before the ring. Did you do…anything before Tin-Tin put the ring on?"

"No."

"Are you sure?"

"No. I mean 'yes'. Yes, I'm sure."

The Tracy patriarch realised he was on the right track when he found that Alan was unable to meet his eyes. "You're lying, Alan and you know how I feel about people who lie to me. Now, I'll give you one last chance and I want the truth this time. Did you, or did you not, sleep with Tin-Tin before you gave her the ring."

Alan's bottom lip slid forward and Jeff wondered if he was about to cry as he nodded. "Yes." The reply was little more than a squeak but Jeff heard it clearly in the quiet office. "…but only once."

Alan finally raised his head and Jeff could see the shame in his eyes. "It wasn't planned. It…it just sort of happened and then afterwards…" Alan shrugged and his speech petered to a stop.

"Afterwards you discussed the ring and decided you wouldn't do it again until you were a lot older and properly ready?" Jeff finished his son's sentence when it seemed that Alan wasn't going to do so. "I have to admit that I see the logic behind your actions but I wish you'd said something, either to myself or to Kyrano or, if you felt that couldn't talk to either of us then maybe Scott, John or even Virgil."

Alan snorted softly. "There wasn't anyone I could talk to," he whispered. "…not really. Tin-Tin was upset and ashamed and knew that Kyrano would be disappointed with her. I was afraid that you'd blow up at me and that you'd insist on telling Kyrano, even if I asked you not to; and Scott? John? Virgil? No, Dad, just…no."

Jeff sighed loudly. "So you decided to act like nothing had happened and hope for the best?"

Alan nodded slowly and looked down at his knees for a moment before a frown formed on his forehead. "How…Why…How do you know now. Did Tin-Tin let something slip and if so does Kyrano know? Did he…"

"Alan," Jeff held up a hand to stop his son's ramblings. "Tin-Tin didn't say a word and apparently denied that anything had happened between the pair of you far more strenuously and for far longer than you did. In fact, if it wasn't for Kyrano's keen observational skills then we probably wouldn't have known that the two of you had been together in that way until it was far, far too late."

Alan frowned again. "What do you mean by that? Too late for what? Why wasn't Kyrano there at breakfast and what has all this got to do with Gordon? Nothing's making any sense and I don't understand what's going on."

Jeff raised his hand again but Alan chose to ignore him. "I have to go, Dad. I need to talk to Tin-Tin. She'll be upset if Kyrano's found out and I need to make sure she's okay."

"No." Jeff banged his hand loudly against the desk as he spoke.

Alan startled badly and looked up at his father in confusion. "What do you mean 'no'? Has Tin decided that she doesn't want anything to do with me now or something? If she has then she could have just spoken to me. I wouldn't have been happy and I'd probably have shouted but I'd never hurt her and I hope she knows that. I would never…"

"Alan," Jeff raised his voice this time. "Alan, stop. Tin-Tin's not here so you couldn't see her if you wanted to. Gordon has taken her and Kyrano to Kansas and that's where they're going to be staying for the foreseeable future. As to whether she wanted to see you before she left, well yes, she put up an almighty fight about not going but it was her father's wishes and mine that she left the island so she went. You are not to try and follow and as of this moment, young man, you can consider yourself grounded. You're free to leave the house, just don't try to leave the island. I've had your brothers lock down the hangar and also the boathouse in case you got some strange, convoluted idea in your head that you could paddle your way across to Kansas. I…"

Jeff stopped abruptly when Alan sprung to his feet and knocked his chair flying. A furious expression flowed across the face of the youngest Tracy boy and he gesticulated wildly in his father's direction. "Now just you wait one minute. You can't ground me. I'm not a child any more. It's difficult enough for me, living here while everyone treats me like some petulant teenager. No one ever gives me the chance to prove myself, it's always 'Oh, it's only Alan, just ignore him' or 'Don't mind him, he's just a kid and he doesn't know any better'. Well, how about this then? I may be the youngest but I'm the only one of us that is in anything like a stable relationship. I have a girlfriend, I take her out, buy her presents and yes, once I even slept with her. I'm not saying it's going to happen again and I can't even say that I remember all that much about it but it happened and we dealt with it and that…" Alan paused for a moment as a spiteful look crossed his face. "…is more action than anyone else on this island has seen recently. Present company most definitely included."

It was the turn of Jeff's chair to hit the floor as he jumped up, leant across the desk and slapped Alan as hard as he could. The moment his hand impacted with his son's cheek, however, the rage drained from the Tracy patriarch and a look of horror crossed his face. He brought his hands up to cover his mouth, stumbled backwards until he was resting on the far wall and then let out a choked sob.

Alan, who had remained in a stunned, motionless silence since being struck, watched his father in confusion. A tear ran down his abused cheek and he let out a quiet whimper as the salty water made the reddened area sting. "Wh…what just happened?" he whispered. "Dad? Do…do…do you hate me? 'Cos I know what I said was out of line and I'm sorry, really I am but I…I…I don't understand what's going on."

Alan's voice broke on the last word and he wrapped his arms around himself as if to protect himself from the goings-on in the office. Jeff sunk down the wall and wrapped his arms around his head as his son's quietly spoken works percolated through his mind. Alan had always been argumentative and objectionable but had never riled him to the point of physical violence before and the out of control feeling he'd just experienced was one that disturbed the Tracy patriarch greatly. "I don't hate you," he croaked. "Alan, I won't have you thinking that. It's just…it's…I don't know how to cope with this. I…it's…I…"

Several more times, Jeff struggled to speak and eventually stopped trying completely in order to try and calm himself down. Alan stood silently against the wall by the door and watched. "Dad?" he said eventually. "Please. Please, tell me what's going on and I'll go away and leave you alone. I'll leave you alone and I'll keep out of your way and you won't even see me for the rest of the day if you don't want to."

Jeff gave a broken chuckle and unwound one of his arms from around his head. He held it out to Alan and beckoned his son towards him. "Come here," he murmured and then sighed when Alan hesitated. "Alan, just…just come here."

Slowly and hesitantly, Alan made his way across the room. He picked his way past Jeff's upturned chair and eventually crouched on the floor beside his father.

Jeff reached out and hooked his arm around Alan. "Forgive me," he murmured as he pulled his son into an awkward, lop sided hug. "I lost myself for a moment there. You've always had a mouth on you, young man and I believe your grandmother's told you many-a-time that it'll get you in trouble one day."

Alan flushed red and looked down at the carpet as he scooted into a more comfortable position beside Jeff. "I…I'm not sure I ever truly understood what she meant until just now. It's just…It's…" He stopped shrugged and then sighed. "The others don't understand what it's like being smothered and coddled all the time. I know they mean well but it's frustrating. You know? I'm given things to do as an afterthought or if Gordon isn't able or available to do them. I…"

"Missions?" Jeff queried softly. "You mean who I send out when, where and why?"

Alan nodded. "Exactly. Scott and Virgil go out to all of them while Gordon and I have to play second fiddle to the big kids."

Jeff snorted inelegantly. "I can guarantee you've never spoken to Scott about this but I'm wondering if you've ever raised it with Gordon."

Alan frowned as he shook his head. "No. It wouldn't be worth my while asking Scott. It's you who decides who's going out each time. Why do you ask if I've spoken to Gordon? What good would it do?"

"Because," Jeff replied slowly. "I think you'll find that Gordon has more of an issue about it than you might think. He's 'coddled' as much as you are, if not more. He's just cosseted and overprotected in a different way. You have your rotations on Five, he has Four. Which of the two do you think get involved with more rescues on a month by month basis?" Jeff raised his eyebrows as Alan frowned in thought. "It's Five, Alan. Four barely gets used; you know that as well as I do and if Two goes out when you're on Five then John will usually go out with Virgil. If Two goes out when John's up on Five then Gordon usually gets left at home again unless Four is involved. Gordon can't handle Three, can barely tolerate Five and is a danger to himself and everyone around him if he's put in charge of Thunderbird 1. He can 'play second fiddle' to Virgil, as you so put it, if, and only if, I chose to send him. More often than not though, I'll pick either yourself or John, simply because I've come so close to losing Gordon in the past that I cannot, physically, bear to let him out of my sight. Gordon knows why he's made to stay at home so often, I'm certain he does. He rarely objects or speaks out of line about it but I see him watching Two flying out without him and I do, occasionally, wonder if I'm doing the right thing by trying to keep him safe and whole. If I'm doing the right thing by holding him back with me but then…then I think back to the moment I walked in on him lying in that hospital bed after his accident." Jeff shook his head and then reached up and scrubbed his eyes. "His face was so swollen that I could barely believe he was my Gordon…that he was my son. I…"

Alan wriggled around until he could wrap his arms around his father and then hugged him tightly. "I never thought about it like that before. I just…"

"…thought about yourself," Jeff finished softly. "That's partly our fault for the way we've treated you but, Alan, you've got to remember that no matter how old you are, no matter what you do, you will always be the youngest of your generation. That little scrap of life who barely made it out of the hospital alive and who did so without his mother. You've got to remember that you're Scott's baby, almost as much as you're mine and I'm sure that Grandma sees you as hers too. Nothing you can do will ever change that and as such you'll always be babied to some point. Is…is this making any sort of sense at all?"

"Sort of…in a way." Alan shrugged. "…but…but I don't get what it's got to do with whatever's going on this morning and I don't get why you hit me. Yes, I know I shouldn't have said what I did but…" Alan shrugged again and then sighed. "I still don't understand."

Jeff pressed his hand gently against Alan's cheek and winced at the heat glowing from it. "I shouldn't have hit you. It's something I vowed I would never do to any of you and I am sorry, truly, truly sorry. It's just you…you were belittling what happened between yourself and Tin-Tin. What...what you did should never be used as leverage in any argument like that, nor should it be done without thought of the repercussions that might follow. I know you said it just sort of happened but, Alan, the fact is that it _did_ happen. Planned or not; once, twice or multiple times, it happened and both yourself and Tin-Tin are going to have to live with the consequences."

Alan frowned. "What consequences? That Kyrano is going to hate me for the rest of my life or that Tin-Tin's been banished to Kansas, specifically to keep us apart? I gave her the ring as a promise that nothing like that would happen again until we were properly ready… married, even. You don't need to keep us apart. There's no need and I…I don't know if I could bear it."

"Well you're going to have to bear it," Jeff replied softly. "Tin-Tin won't be back until Kyrano deems her ready to be. That could be when he's ready to come back, of course and I fear that might not be for some time yet. Tin-Tin's pregnant, Alan; pregnant, scared and in need of an obstetrician. Kyrano's upset and justifiably worried about everything that's going on and I…I…" Jeff paused and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I don't…I don't…" He stopped and coughed softly. "You know I have…issues, with…that…since you…since your mother…since…" Jeff shook his head and then dropped his chin against his chest with a thud. "I think I need to be alone for a while. Go, Alan. Take a walk, do some thinking. Think over what I've said, get your head on right. This is big, son. Monumentally big and I don't know if any of us are ready for it, least of all you."

Alan pursed his lips tightly together and nodded before clambering to his feet and looking down at his father. "Dad, am I…are you…?"

Jeff tilted his head to one side and peered upwards. "I'm sure, Alan. Now please, leave me be."

Alan nodded again. "I'll keep out of your way; like I promised. I…I…I don't think I'll be back for lunch. It's…it'd…" Alan huffed loudly. "I'll just keep myself out of everyone's way." He slunk unhappily towards the door and then turned back towards his father. "Um, Dad, am I…?"

"You're still grounded, Alan," Jeff answered the part-asked question. "That won't change for the immediate future; rescues notwithstanding, of course."

"Of course," Alan's voice became even softer as he turned and left the room. "I'm sorry."

Jeff barely heard the whispered apology as Alan disappeared through the doorway. He sighed loudly and then leant back and knocked his head, hard against the wall he was leaning on. "Oh, Luce, what did we do to deserve this? What did _I_ do? I can't….I can't…We're not ready for this."


	8. Chapter 8

~#~ (Chapter 8)

Alan managed to escape the house and wandered down onto the sandy beach without seeing anyone. He trudged slowly along the beach until he reached the bend that would take him out of sight of the house. Once out of view he tucked himself into one of the small caves that dotted the island and sat, staring silently out to sea while he contemplated the major bombshell that his father had just dropped on him.

~#~

Jeff remained in his office until Ruth pushed her way into the room with a tray of coffee. The old woman found him fast asleep, slumped on the floor against the wall behind his desk, with a framed picture of Lucille clasped loosely in his lap. She smiled softly at the picture and then shook her head sadly when she caught sight of the dried tear tracks on her son's face. "Oh, Jefferson, I wish you'd come and spoken to me rather than getting yourself all worked up in here. I know that talking has never been your strong point but…"

Ruth tutted quietly to herself. A frown crossed her brow and she looked around, realising that Jeff had come to the office to meet Alan who was nowhere to be seen. Shaking her head again, Ruth put the tray of coffee down on the desk and squatted in front of her sleeping son.

"Jeff," Ruth shook his shoulder gently. "Nap time's over, Jeff. It's time to wake up and talk to me."

Jeff frowned slightly in his sleep and blindly turned towards his mother's voice before he'd entirely woken up. "Luce?"

Ruth pursed her lips together and shook her head as she ran her hand through Jeff's hair. "How I wish I could say yes, Jeff, but I'm afraid it's just me. We need to talk about what's been going on today. About what's got you all out of sorts and what it's got to do with Alan, Gordon and the Kyranos."

Jeff slowly opened one eye, peered down into his lap and then clutched Lucille's picture tightly to his chest as he scrubbed both eyes with his free hand.

The scrub was disturbed by a sudden yawn and Jeff was forced to release his grip on the picture frame so as to smother cover his mouth. Ruth stood the fame on the floor between them and smiled sadly when Jeff searched it out as soon as he was able.

"Mother. Hi." Jeff looked blearily around. "I…um…what time is it?"

"It's time you got yourself up off the floor and into that chair there so we can have a proper talk. That's what time it is." Ruth said the words softly but Jeff was in no doubt that she expected the conversation to go ahead regardless.

Jeff glanced down at his watch and whistled softly. "You're right, as usual. Is that…do I smell coffee?"

Ruth smiled. "You do. I thought you and Alan might be in need of some but he doesn't seem to be in here any more."

Jeff shook his head. "He's not been here for some time, Mother. I'm afraid it got a little fraught earlier and we ended up having something of an altercation before he left. He was going to go for a walk to clear his head and have a think. I guess that he must have gone outside without you noticing."

"Not just me," Ruth added. "Neither Scott nor Virgil have seen him either. I spoke to them just before coming in here and it was generally assumed that the two of you were still holed up here together. I think the boys were worried that the pair of you would come to blows if you stayed in here much longer."

Jeff winced and lifted the hand that he had struck Alan with. "Not 'blows'," he murmured. "Just…just the one blow. I…Mother, I hit him."

Ruth's eyebrow climbed into her hairline. "Jefferson Tracy, I raised you better than that. Striking one of your boys; what were you thinking?"

"I wasn't thinking," Jeff admitted. "It was a momentary lapse of judgement for which I apologised immediately. We…we had cleared the air again before he left; he didn't go with angry words between us although I admit that he was a little shell-shocked and upset."

"I suppose he was," Ruth huffed. "The way you went off earlier. You sent him in here like he was a naughty school boy, not the fine young man that he's turning out to be."

Jeff looked down at Lucille's picture and traced a finger along the outline of her cheek. "That 'fine young man' has excelled himself this time, Mother. He…he…it looks very much like he's going to father the first of the next generation of Tracys. I always imagined that it'd be Scott, or possibly John but not Alan. Not in my wildest imaginations would it have been him."

Ruth folded her skirt carefully beneath herself and sat down on the carpet in front of her son. "What are you telling me, Jefferson? That Alan's gone and got a girl…Oh no, not just any girl, it's Tin-Tin, isn't it? That's why you've sent her away? What in God's name, Jefferson? If that's what you're telling me then they need to be together, not separated by umpteen thousand miles. What were you thinking?"

"That's the second time you've asked me that in less than ten minutes," Jeff replied with a dry chuckle. "…and I can't answer you any better this time than I could the last. The separation is more for Kyrano's benefit than Tin-Tin's. She didn't want to go at all, all she wanted was Alan but she had no choice. Kyrano needed time away from the island and Tin-Tin needs a thorough checkup from a doctor who is properly trained in…that sort of thing."

Ruth nodded. "I suppose she does. Do we know how far along she is or...well…anything else?"

Jeff shrugged. "Not yet. All I got out of Alan was that 'it was just the once' but as I said, things were a bit fraught and I was mainly trying to get him to own up to what he'd done. Further details weren't that forthcoming but was probably my fault just as much as his."

"Judging by the fact that Lucille's down here rather than in her usual spot on the shelf…" Ruth patted the photo frame fondly. "…and the fact that you were fast asleep in an untidy heap on the floor, I'd guess that you both got rather upset and cut the conversation shorter than it might have otherwise been."

Jeff picked up the frame, sat it in his lap and looked at it tenderly. "We had some talking to do," he whispered. "Mother…Tin-Tin…what if…I wouldn't wish that on anyone. Not my own worst enemy and certainly not one of the boys."

Ruth reached out and rested a hand on Jeff's shoulder. "You can't think like that. What happened to Lucille was one in a...huge, huge number's chance. You know that. It wasn't normal, in any sense of the word. It was a horrible, horrible thing that happened but Jeff, you're going to have to let go of the fear that it'll happen again. Lucille had three completely healthy pregnancies before Gordon's and apart from the speed of his arrival there wasn't anything untoward about that one either. If you'd stopped there then you wouldn't have any of the worry and fears that you have now but, Jeff, you wouldn't have Alan, your life here on the island and…you wouldn't have a new little grandchild on the way."

Jeff let out a long, slow, breathy sigh. "I know," he admitted. "I love all of the boys, you know that. Sometimes though, I just wonder…" He shook his head and looked apologetically at his mother. "I'm sorry, I'm just thinking aloud. Given the opportunity, I wouldn't swap what we have now, I would possibly trade a little of my soul for the chance to say a proper goodbye though. The fact that I never got to…"

"Makes it all the harder." Ruth swallowed deeply as she squeezed Jeff's arm. "I understand that, Jeff. We've had this talk before; about how you weren't to know that Lucille was in more danger than Alan. No one knew, Jeff, you know that. As far as anyone realised it was life and death for the baby but not for Lucille. No-one could have guessed what was going to happen. No one, Jeff."

Jeff covered Ruth's hand with his own and returned the squeeze. "Doesn't stop me wishing though…"

"No, it doesn't. My point, though, is that you can't dwell on what happened and you can't say anything to the little ones. You'll scare them and that's the last thing either of them need. Tin-Tin will be able to have the best care that money can buy, she'll be as safe as it's humanly possible to make her and you…you…" Ruth threw her arms in the air and huffed when she found that she couldn't put what she was trying to say into words.

Jeff grimaced. "I'll probably break down at least another couple of times before the baby arrives. Is that what you're trying not to say?"

"Hopefully not but…yes." Ruth patted his arm and then clambered to her feet and held her hand out to him. "If we don't move soon then the coffee's going to get cold and I think it's time for Lucille to go back on her shelf, don't you?"

Jeff gazed sadly at the picture in his lap and then gently lifted it and placed it into Ruth's outstretched hand. Ruth smiled at her son and stepped around him in order to place Lucille back in her spot on the shelf behind Jeff's desk. She then stepped back around and helped Jeff to his feet before pushing him gently into his chair and pouring them both a drink.

The pair drunk their fill and then remained in the office in a state of companionable silence. Ruth was content to allow Jeff to mull through his thoughts without disturbance but eventually looked at her watch and announced that she needed to go and make a start on lunch. Jeff stood up, hugged his mother and followed her from the office. The old woman headed for the kitchen while her son disappeared downstairs into one of the silos where he remained until Scott pinged his watch to let him know that his presence was requested at the dinner table.


	9. Chapter 9

~#~ (Chapter 9)

Alan ignored his watch when it chimed to let him know that lunch was being served and again for the ping that called him in for dinner. He stayed outside until after dark and remained in hiding until he was certain that even Scott had given up waiting for him and had gone to bed.

Quietly he slipped out of the cave where he had spent the greater part of the day and groaned softly as his legs complained about being in a cramped, stationary position for so long. He stretched his arms above his head, sighed loudly and then set off towards the house.

Alan skirted around the main building and slipped in through the side door nearest to the hangers, frowning when he realised that Tracy 2 was absent from its usual spot. "Gordon," he grumbled in a quiet but upset interpretation of Jeff's voice, "…is cosseted and overprotected just as much as yourself, Alan…just in a different way." Changing to his own voice and upping his volume slightly, Alan continued. "Well, HUH, what do you know, it's in so much of a different way that he's trusted to take _MY_ girlfriend away in _DAD's_ own private jet. I'm sorry, Scott, I know you don't like anyone touching your things but no matter what Dad says I'm going to be following them and I'm going to have to borrow your jet to do so."

Alan crossed the hangar and carefully clambered up into Scott's sleek, black jet. He started the engines, spun the plane towards the door and then punched a code into one of the cockpit control panels that would open the hangar door.

The door in front of Alan remained resolutely shut, despite him having entered the correct code into the panel. He punched the code again and then a third time when the door still refused to open. Alan slammed his hand against the control panel, frowned and then threw himself out of the pilot's seat, down through the plane and stomped across the hangar to the panel which held another set of door controls.

Alan found that he had no more luck with the hangar-based door controls than he did with the ones inside Scott's plane and he growled loudly before stamping out of the hangar and back towards the beach, leaving Scott's jet sitting in front of the closed door with its engine running.

~#~

Despite Jeff's earlier warning that Alan shouldn't try 'paddling his way across to Kansas', the young, impulsive Tracy strode across the beach to the boathouse but even before he reached the building he realised that he was going to fail to gain access to the boats. Virgil, who had locked the boathouse down earlier that morning, had done so in the simplest, most well tried and tested method of securing a building; he had chained and padlocked the door.

Alan frowned and walked around to the front of the boathouse until he drew level with the large double doors that opened into the ocean. The doors were tightly closed but Alan could see that they were both barred from the inside and were therefore immobile. He gave the side of the boathouse a vicious kick, let out a loud huff of annoyance and then kicked the boathouse again for good measure before turning and shaking his fist at the villa where his family were sleeping. "You can't do this to me," he hissed. "You can't keep me here against my will. It's not right and you won't win. I hate yo…"

Alan was momentarily distracted by the sight of a meteor streaking its way across the sky. He watched it quietly for a moment and by the time it disappeared from view he had a gentle smile on his face. "I know, Mom, I don't hate them really but they're pis…er…they're bugging me. Especially Dad. There's only one person in this family who truly understands me but he's not here, is he? I…Oh…why didn't I think of that before? Mom, you're brilliant, thank you; a million times, thank you. I know what I need to do now…how I can get away. Can…can you please watch over Tin-Tin for me while I'm gone? She's all alone in Kansas with only Kyrano for company and I don't suppose he's particularly fun to be around at the moment. Look after her for me, Mom. Please."

Alan sniffed loudly when the sky remained dark and meteor free. He scrubbed his eyes with the forefinger and thumb of his right hand and then set off purposefully back towards the hangars and the huge red bulk of Thunderbird 3.

~#~

Gordon had made good time back from Kansas but was looking forward to the end of his flight. The young man was tired and still somewhat confused after having left the Kyranos at the Tracy farm earlier that day. It had been clear to the aquanaut that Tin-Tin wanted to be anywhere other than the farm and Kyrano had been in a particularly tight-lipped mood, only speaking when spoken to and very much not himself.

Gordon sighed loudly, stretched his arms out in front of himself and wriggled until his back popped. "I sure hope Dad doesn't have too much planned for tomorrow. I know you're comfortable, T2, but you're not a patch on TB2 or even my little Four. I'm going to be lucky if I can move in the morning and we've just left Tin-Tin waaay behind us so I'm going to have to get Virg to help get me up which means he'll be fussing for the rest of the day." Gordon sighed again and then, without warning, his face was split by a large yawn. "Oh well, bed is calling so let's get home. Tracy Island approaching. Nothing moving at this time of night. Beginning final descent."

The aquanaut adjusted the flaps in preparation for landing when the sky exploded into an orange fireball directly in front of Tracy 2. "Whoa," he yelped as the jet shook violently. "Not good. Not good."

The nosecone of Thunderbird 3 emerged from the fireball as Gordon fought for control of the jet. The rest of the rocket followed, belching exhaust gasses as it accelerated away from the Roundhouse and Gordon quickly realised that he was going to be unable to regain control of Tracy 2 in time to make a conventional landing.

Temporarily blinded by the glare of the fire, Gordon found himself jarred and shaken as he fought to keep Tracy 2 both in the air and in an upright position. He was relieved when a gap in the fireball allowed him to catch a sudden glimpse of sand close below him and he cut all power to the jet's engines, dropped the plane onto the beach and then sat, panting in the pilot's seat while he let the last of Thunderbird 3's exhaust gasses diffuse into the atmosphere.

"Whoa," he gasped. "That was close. You'd think someone could have warned us, eh girl?" Gordon leaned forwards and peered out of the front window. "You know, I think you're going to have to stay here for now and my name's going to be mud in the morning when Dad sees you. Now, are you going to open up nicely for me or am I dropping the emergency ramp?"

Gordon managed to open the main door of the jet but couldn't persuade the steps to unfurl so ended up sliding uncomfortably down to the floor using the inflatable emergency ramp. He clambered to his feet, brushed the sand from his clothes and turned to pat the jet. "Sorry, girl," he murmured. "…and thanks for staying mostly intact. Virg'll get you shifted and sorted out in the morning…just like he's going to do with me."

He patted the plane again and then sighed and turned to head towards the villa.

~#~

Gordon had been expecting a hive of activity due to the launch of Thunderbird 3 but he quickly discovered that he was equivalently locked out of a house which was shrouded in darkness. He frowned and tapped his watch against the panel beside the door to unlock it and then wandered through the villa and into the corridor that held the bedrooms.

The aquanaut paused in front of his door, unsure of whether he should disturb his father, one of his brothers or whether he should just go to bed. He leant against the doorframe and stretched his back while he pondered what to do but then jumped when his phone sounded loudly in the pocket of his pants.

He scrambled to pull the phone from his pocket at the same time as opening the door to his room. Managing to do both, he quickly stepped through the door and then answered the call with a quiet "Hello."

"Gordon?" John's voice sounded tinny through the speaker of Gordon's cell phone. "Is that you?"

Gordon pulled the phone away from his ear and peered at the screen before replying. "John? Where are you? What's going on?"

"You know where I am," John chuckled softly. "…and I was hoping _you_ could tell _me_ what was going on."

Gordon peered at the phone again and frowned. "I don't know what's going on. Isn't that your job? To know everything about…well… _everything_? And, for that matter, why did you call my cell rather than my watch?"

John chuckled again. "Well thank you for that but, no, I don't know _everything_ as you so kindly put it and today I seem to have been well and truly left out of the loop. I haven't spoken to anyone all day; no-one's even thought to call me for a chat and everyone, other than yourself and Alan, is in bed. I was as well before I woke up to find that Alan and Thunderbird 3 were on their way up here, I wasn't warned that they were coming and I still don't know why they are. No-one's told me why you've been to Kansas or why you've left Tin-Tin and Kyrano there and, quite frankly, Gordon, I'm more than a little pissed off."

It was Gordon's turn to chuckle but he immediately felt bad when John huffed loudly. "I'm sorry, Johnny," he murmured. "I wasn't laughing at you, it's just not like you to get riled like this. I honestly can't tell you what's going on because I don't know. All I can tell you is that it's been a weird day since first thing this morning, culminating in nearly being barbequed by Thunderbird 3 and having to ditch dad's plane on the beach. I'm tired, I'm sore and I really want to go to bed." He stopped and sighed. "…you're not going to let me go to bed, are you?"

John sighed. "I'm sorry, Gordy, but we need to know what's going on. Alan doesn't seem to be speaking to me so I can't get anything out of him and knowing as little as we do, I don't think it's a good idea to ask Father. Do you?"

Gordon shook his head and then realised that John couldn't see him. "No," he whispered. "I don't think that'd be a good idea. Especially as I'd have to admit to trashing his plane. I'd rather get at least a little sleep before I have to tackle that one."

"What happened to the jet?" John asked quietly. "…that you could get it onto the island but not onto the runway? It's got VTOL jets, Gords, I don't get it."

"I told you before," Gordon grumbled. "…that I had a close encounter with Thunderbird 3. T2 didn't much appreciate it and I had to stick her in the sand before she flipped over. I don't think she's badly damaged but I couldn't get the steps to come down and the undercarriage will definitely need some work before she can be used again."

John whistled. "So you were still out when Alan left and you didn't give him clearance to leave?"

"No," Gordon hissed. "I didn't give him clearance to leave and when I find out who did I'm going to kick their butt straight into next week. There's no way he should have been cleared to fly when I was coming in for a landing 'cos it's not like I was invisible or unexpected. T2's transmitter was obviously working for at least part of the day or you wouldn't have known that I'd been to Kansas and…Wait a minute, didn't you say that everyone else is in bed? If that's true then who gave him clearance? Surely he wouldn't have cleared himself?"

"I have a horrible feeling that he may have done," John replied softly. "…or that he didn't clear anything, at all and just lifted off for…whatever reason in which case I think he'll be lucky if Father doesn't kick his butt right out of International Rescue and sometime into next year, let alone you kicking it into next week. Look, Gords, Thunderbird 3 will be here soon and I think you need to get at least Scott up to speed before she gets here. I…we…I get the impression that this is more than just the two of us should be dealing with…at least without some sort of help."


	10. Chapter 10

~#~ (Chapter 10)

Gordon tapped gently on Scott's door before pushing it open and stepping inside. Scott, who was a notoriously light sleeper, stirred almost immediately and was sitting on the edge of his bed by the time Gordon reached him.

"John," Gordon murmured as he held his phone out towards Scott. "He…he needs to speak to you."

Scott picked his watch up off the bedside table and shook it. "Are we having problems?"

Gordon pushed his phone towards his brother again. "Not technical problems, no. The watches are fine, John just phoned my cell 'cos he could see me moving whereas everyone…mostly…else was asleep."

Scott frowned at Gordon's hesitancy and held his hand out for the phone. He patted the bed beside him in an invite to Gordon to sit down and then put the phone to his ear. "I'm getting bad vibes, Johnny. This call is not going to be good, I can tell."

"And hello to you too, Scott," John chuckled. "…and you're not wrong. You're not going to like the call."

John briefly told Scott that after hearing nothing from the island all day, he had been woken from his sleep by Thunderbird 5 announcing the fact Thunderbird 3 had been launched and was on its way towards him. John went on to explain that he had been unable to make contact with Alan aboard Thunderbird 3 but that he assumed it was Alan himself who was being uncommunicative rather than Three or Five because, as far as he could tell, all the systems were fully functional. He touched on the fact that Thunderbird 3 appeared to have been launched without any sort of clearance but omitted to tell Scott about Gordon's near-miss.

Scott stood up and began pacing slowly back and forth while John was talking. This left the bed free for Gordon who flopped down comfortably on top of sheets while he waited for his older brothers to discuss what, if anything, they were going to do for the rest of the night.

~#~

By the time John and Scott had finished talking, Gordon was fast asleep. Scott disconnected the call to John, turned back towards his bed and smiled. "You've had a long day, Little Fish," he murmured. "…and it looks like you're down for the night so I guess I'll be taking your room for now. I'll come and see you in the morning. Sleep well."

Scott unlaced Gordon's shoes and carefully pulled them off without disturbing the sleeping aquanaut. He got a light blanket out of his closet, spread it gently over Gordon and then quietly left the room.

~#~

John contacted Scott early the next morning to tell him that Alan had docked safely during the night but that the youngest Tracy hadn't told him anything useful due to the state that he had been in when he had arrived. Alan had been in floods of tears, had babbled a lot and had made little or no sense before he had finally shut himself in his bedroom, covered himself entirely in bedcovers and hadn't been seen since.

Scott shook his head at this. "So we're still none the wiser as to what's caused all this but it's safe to say that it's something big. And by big, I mean, really, really…Thunderbird 2-type big."

"I'll try to get some sense out of him when he gets up," John promised. "It's not like he's going to be able to avoid me for long and I've kind of trapped him up here for the…er…time being. I've locked him out of Three, in case you were wondering 'cos much as I might like it up here, I'm not willing to stay up here indefinitely and that's exactly what'll happen if he takes Three and decides to go…well, anywhere other than back down there."

Scott nodded. "Makes sense as I can't see him wanting to come anywhere near here when Father finds out what he's done. Three's neither inconspicuous nor easy to park anywhere other than the island though so it's not like he could go many other places with her." Scott shrugged. "Keep him locked out, Johnny, just in case. Oh, and John…" He paused for a moment and peered at his watch. "…keep in touch."

~#~

Scott wandered through the house, into the kitchen and flicked on the coffee machine. Virgil, still half asleep, wandered into the room and pushed a mug towards him and the two brothers spent a quiet few minutes with their drinks until Virgil's watch made its presence known.

"Virg?" Gordon's voice floated quietly out of the watch. "Are you awake? I can't get up. If you can hear me could you please come and give me a hand?"

"I hear you, Gordy," Virgil replied softly as he stood up. "…and I'm on my way. Just hold on, I'll be there in just a moment."

Scott stood up and followed Virgil from the kitchen. "You need to head to my room," he murmured. "Gordon fell asleep in there when he got back last night and I didn't have the heart to move him."

Virgil nodded. "Fair enough. I can't say I'm surprised he's struggling to get up if he's in your room though. Dad really didn't think things through well when he equivalently stuck Gordy in a seat for the greatest part of yesterday. He'll be stiff and uncomfortable and…"

"…Stuck in a bed with no grab rails." Scott finished Virgil's sentence just as they stepped into the corridor leading to the bedrooms. "Damn, I would never have left him if I'd thought about that."

Scott pushed his door open and hurried over to Gordon. "I…"

Gordon shook his head. "Don't say it, Scott. It's my fault I'm stuck here, not yours. You only suggested that I sat down, not that I should take over the entire bed and then fall asleep. Thanks for the blanket, by the way…at least I assume that was you?"

Scott nodded. "You were well away so I covered you over and crashed in your room for a few hours. I wouldn't have left if I'd thought you'd have trouble getting up again."

"S'okay, Scotty," Gordon let out a sigh. "I kind of guessed that I'd struggle this morning. It was a long and very strange day yesterday and one that I'd rather not repeat any time soon if I can otherwise avoid it. Virg, once you've got me moving could you please take a look at T2. I sort of promised her that you'd sort her out once you'd…um…once you'd sorted me out and I'd rather Dad didn't see her with her wheels in the sand."

"I can do that," Virgil agreed, frowning slightly and looking down at Scott who just shrugged. "Let's see about getting you moving first…and then we'll sort out Tracy 2."

~#~

Scott and Virgil got Gordon up off the bed and deposited him in Scott's bathroom so he could freshen up and relieve himself. The pair then escorted him to the kitchen where Virgil propped him up against the worktop in front of the window and Scott made him a cup of weak, milky coffee.

"I take it they were yours?" Gordon asked as he waved his cup at the part-drunk mugs of cold coffee on the table. "I'm sorry if I disturbed you but thanks for coming to my aid 'cos I think I'd've been stuck there for hours on my own."

Scott leaned over and ruffled Gordon's hair. "Any time, Little Fish. Any time." He chuckled as Gordon hurried to flatten his hair back into some sort of order. "Do you want to try again with the drinks, Virg, or are we just going to see about putting Dad's plane to bed?"

Virgil looked disdainfully at the cups on the table. "Let's get the plane shifted first. We can start again with the coffee when we do breakfast."


	11. Chapter 11

~#~ (Chapter 11)

Scott and Virgil left Gordon in the kitchen, wandered down the poolside steps and set off across the beach towards Tracy 2 which they could see sitting at an angle in the sand just before the Roundhouse. The bright blue plane had one wing-tip buried in the soft white sand near the top of the beach and the red emergency ramp hung limply out of the open doorway on the uppermost side of the plane.

"I don't get how he got it that wrong," Virgil grumbled as they approached the plane. "Everyone knows that you don't drop until you've cleared the Roundhouse and it's not like he was coming in blind 'cos we left the runway lit for him."

Scott shrugged. "Don't know," he replied. "Didn't know anything about it at all until he asked you to take a look at her…whoa. What the hell?" Scott had walked around to the front of Tracy 2 while he was talking and had caught sight of the blackened scorch marks marring the blue paintwork at the front of the plane.

"Fire damage," Virgil said with a frown. "He didn't do anything yesterday other than fly to Kansas, hang around and then fly back again, did he?"

"Not that I'm aware, no." Scott stepped underneath the belly of Tracy 2 and crouched beside the front landing gear. "This is scrap," he announced quietly and turned to look towards the back of the plane. "…and I'd guess that they'll not look much better, once they've been dug out enough to be visible of course."

"Of course," Virgil chuckled momentarily and then immediately sobered. "Gordon should have been checked over when he got back. He's not the strongest of us at the best of times and this…" Virgil waved his hand in order to encompass the whole plane, "…wouldn't have helped his back at all. I'd be surprised if he's not hurting this morning rather than just stiff like he's making out. Dad's going to do his nut."

Scott nodded. "That he is, Virg; that he is." He sighed and then clambered out from beneath the plane. "I'm going to call John to see if he can shed any light on what went on here. We're going to need Two to shift this and we're not going to be able to do that without Dad noticing. Gordy's going to get a rollicking for trashing the plane, no matter what the reason but if we can get some backup that it wasn't entirely his fault then Dad might…hopefully…cut him some slack."

~#~

Scott stood on the sand beside the plane and used his watch to ping John. There was a short delay before a flustered-looking John appeared on the screen. "Scott," he said briskly. "Hi. Alan's with me at the moment so I can't stop and chat. All I'll say for now is that it's a bright and balmy 127 degrees at your present locale. That much is plain to see. I'll call you later. Good luck."

The face of Scott's watch went dark and the eldest Tracy boy looked at Virgil in confusion. "What, exactly, was that all about?" he asked.

Virgil shrugged. "Obviously he wanted to tell you something without Alan overhearing. What did he mean though, '127 degrees at your present locale.'?"

"Present locale," Scott repeated quietly. "Present locale…well that's obviously here. 127 degrees though, that doesn't make any sense. There's no way it's that hot."

"Present locale is here…" Virgil pointed at the plane. "Exactly here and exactly what we're trying to unravel. When did Gordon get back? Could 127 be 0127 as in almost half past one this morning?"

"It's a good enough place to start," Scott replied. "Brains' lab?"

Virgil shook his head. "I don't think we need to. I think John's done something in there…" he waved his hand towards the plane again. " _'Plain_ to see'…as in 'get in the plane to see'." He grabbed the bottom of the emergency ramp and pulled himself up before leaning down to give Scott a hand up into the plane. They both stood for a moment, appraising the inside of the plane and then moved to the cockpit where a small red light was flashing.

"Johnny, you're a genius," Scott muttered. "Take a seat, Virg and we'll see what he's got to say for himself."

Virgil sat in the co-pilot's position while Scott took the pilot's seat and once they were settled Scott leaned forwards and pressed the button below the flashing light. Tracy 2's Heads Up Display sprung into life and the screen was immediately filled with several hundred lines of code which scrolled past faster than either Scott or Virgil could read them. The code cleared and a flashing cursor appeared on the bottom of the screen, remained there for several seconds and then, with an audible 'beep', a login screen appeared.

Scott pursed his lips and glanced at Virgil. "Do I want to know how many of Brains' systems Johnny had to hack through to do that? In fact, don't answer that, I don't want to know."

He shrugged, entered his usual login credentials and let out a quiet 'ha' when the HUD changed to show that he had effectively gained access of the mainframe in the villa. "Right, Johnny, what do you want us to do now?" He looked across at Virgil and raised a questioning eyebrow. "CCTV?"

"Yeah," Virgil replied. "The one this side of the Roundhouse, I guess…presumably a little after 01:25 this morning."

Scott nodded and punched in the command to bring up the CCTV screens. "Dad's up," he murmured. "He's in the kitchen talking to Gordy and looks…well, he looks okay; better than yesterday in fact…but that may well change when he finds out what Gordon's done to his plane."

The camera on the Roundhouse proved to be at the wrong angle as Tracy 2 couldn't be seen approaching and as such neither Scott nor Virgil could work out what had happened to her. All they could see was that she dropped into view, enveloped in a fireball, buried herself in the sand and ended up in the position that they had found her.

"Maybe we'll have more luck with the camera on top of the aerial tower," Virgil suggested. "It's a bit further out but it covers the beach, the Roundhouse and the end of the runway."

Scott nodded and tapped at the screen. "Aerial tower coming up. Yes, that's much more like it. 01:20 aaaand 'go'."

~#~

This time Tracy 2 could be clearly seen approaching. As they reached 01:24, Virgil commented that everything looked good and that the plane was well balanced. 01:25 passed without comment but as 01:26 ticked past it became very obvious that something was happening beneath the Roundhouse. A dull glow and the flicker of flames could be seen deep within the silo beneath the round, red building and a plume of white steam belched forth a moment later.

Scott's nose crumpled as his eyes flicked between the Roundhouse and Tracy 2. "Uh oh."

Thunderbird 3's ignition sequence had been completed deep within Tracy Island and Scott and Virgil could only sit in stunned silence as they watched the small, blue Tracy 2 flying straight into the fireball that the huge, red rocket belched out of its engines as it began to propel Alan skywards. Gordon, in Tracy 2, disappeared completely from view for a moment, only to reappear in view at a dangerously steep angle with one wingtip almost touching the sand. Thunderbird 3 cleared the Roundhouse spewing forth another geyser of smoke and flames and by the time the beach was visible once again, Gordon, along with Tracy 2, was down and safe upon the sand.

"Crap," Virgil breathed. "That was…close."

Scott nodded. "Too close. And you know what's worse?" Virgil shook his head so Scott continued. "…that we've been blaming Gordon…for trashing the plane, I mean. We've been blaming him the whole time and it was one hundred percent, totally not his fault."

It was Virgil's turn to nod. "I know, Scott, but we weren't to know what went on here this morning. John obviously knew more than we did and Gordon knows as well although even he might not have realised just how close he got to becoming aquanaut-shish-kebab on a Thunderbird 3 skewer."

"What do you reckon?" Scott murmured. "10 seconds? 15?"

"Somewhere between the two, I'd have said," Virgil replied quietly. "Certainly no longer than 15. If you think about it though, it's _very_ Gordon."

Scott let out a breathy laugh. "You're not wrong there. He's kind of the champ of surviving by the skin of his teeth, isn't he? We definitely owe him some sort of apology though and Dad…" Scott grimaced. "…Dad needs to see this." He stopped and sighed. "…and I guess it'll be down to me to tell him. That'll be…fun."

~#~

Jeff was still talking to Gordon when Scott and Virgil walked back into the kitchen. The Tracy patriarch had propped himself up beside his son and the pair were watching Ruth as she fussed around the room putting breakfast together.

"Scott, Virgil," Jeff nodded to his sons. "Breakfast won't be long. Grandma has vetoed any offer of help so you might as well go and wash up. Could one of you please get Alan up on the way back past and bring him with you as well. I…I understand why he stayed away yesterday but it can't be allowed to continue. He needs to come in and eat, if nothing else."

Scott, Virgil and Gordon shared a look for a moment before Scott sighed. "Alan won't be in for breakfast, Father. He's been…um…up for some time. Look, I've got various things that I need to talk through with you but, please, it's still early. Can we at least have a pleasant breakfast before everything gets fraught again?"

Jeff cocked his head to one side and frowned worriedly at his eldest child. "Well…okay, if...whatever it is you need to say can wait until after breakfast then that's fine by me. Gordon," Jeff turned back to the aquanaut beside him. "…are you going with your brothers, are you staying there or are you going to try and sit down?"

"Er..." Gordon looked undecided. "I…I want to go with them but I'll need a hand. Virg…?"

Virgil nodded, stepped towards Gordon and gently slung an arm around his back. "I think it's about time that a certain little fish took their tablets," he said softly. "You know, those ones that he doesn't like taking unless absolutely necessary? What do you reckon?"

Gordon stepped forwards and then grimaced. "Yeah, I reckon you're probably right. Look, I just need to get to the nearest bathroom. If you get me there and then come back with the tablets it'll save me walking all the way there and back again. Please?"

By way of reply, Virgil coaxed Gordon forwards. Jeff nodded approvingly and patted the aquanaut's shoulder as they passed. Scott fell into formation beside Gordon as they reached him and the three brothers soon disappeared from view.


	12. Chapter 12

~#~ (Chapter 12)

Breakfast passed peacefully with Scott visibly relaxing once it became clear that Jeff had no intention of pressing him into speaking before he was ready. Gordon's tablets kicked in roughly half way through the meal and by the time the final coffees were served he was sitting comfortably beside Virgil.

Jeff drained the last of his coffee and sighed softly as he stretched his hands out in front of himself. Scott watched him as he finished his own drink and then stood up. "Can we take a walk?"

"Sure," Jeff replied. "Virgil, Gordon, would you mind checking on Brains for me? He seems to have gone to ground somewhere, which I admit is not unlike him, but it's unusual not to hear from him at all."

Virgil nodded and climbed to his feet. He held a hand out to help Gordon up and the two left the room. A moment later Jeff held a hand towards the door. "Shall we?"

~#~

Scott led Jeff in the opposite direction to where Gordon had left Tracy 2. Once they were out of sight of the villa he sat down on the sand and stared out into the ocean until Jeff sat beside him.

"What's the matter, Scott?" Jeff asked quietly. "You seem all out of sorts this morning."

Scott chuckled quietly and turned to look at him. "I'm okay, it's just...you're not going to like what I have to say and you seem in a much better mood than you were yesterday. I…I don't want to mess up that mood but I'm going to, no matter how carefully I word this."

Jeff pursed his lips and shrugged. "Well whatever it is, I'm sure it'll be better out in the open rather than…" He reached up and gently tapped Scott's temple, "…tucked away in here."

"Yeah, I suppose you're right." Scott sighed and scrubbed his fingers through his hair, "Alan…"

Jeff rolled his eyes. "I might have guessed. What's he done this time?"

"He…um…You know how you asked Virgil and myself to lock down the island yesterday?" Scott asked hesitantly. Jeff nodded silently so he continued. "Well we thought we'd done as you asked. I disabled the door to the aircraft hangars so Alan couldn't leave that way and Virg did the boathouse even though it seemed unlikely that he'd try to make his escape that way." Jeff nodded again and motioned for Scott to continue. "We locked down everything that we'd thought of but I…we…I missed a very, very obvious way off the island. A very large and very red way off the island."

Scott turned to look back at the ocean while his words percolated into Jeff's mind.

"He took Thunderbird 3?" Jeff guessed. "Is that what you're telling me, Scott? Alan took Thunderbird 3 and went…Please tell me he went up to John and didn't try to take her somewhere else. Tell me he's up on Thunderbird 5."

Scott exhaled loudly. "He is. John's got him trapped up there with no access to Three, just in case. That…that's not the worst of it though."

"There's more?" Jeff grumbled. "Taking a Thunderbird without permission isn't enough?"

Scott shook his head. "Not for Alan, it isn't, no. It's all _part_ of the same issue though, to be fair. Just…worse."

Jeff closed his eyes. "Tell me, Scott. What did he do?"

"He didn't ask for clearance," Scott replied quietly. "He didn't ask for clearance and didn't…well it doesn't look like he even checked whether there was anything moving before he took off. If he'd looked then he'd have noticed Tracy 2 approaching but as it was…he was literally seconds away from wiping Gordy off the face of the planet. Gordon managed to put Tracy 2 down on the beach, relatively intact and by some miracle didn't hurt himself in the process. He hasn't said anything as such but I'd wager that's a big part of why he struggled to get going this morning."

Jeff buried his head in his hands and groaned loudly. "The boy goes from bad to worse. I can't say I entirely blame him for taking Three; I really didn't give him any other options and knowing him as we do, I suppose we should have expected something…unexpected. Not getting clearance though? That's inexcusable. Gordon notwithstanding, _anyone_ could have been out there last night. Three's no shrinking violet and we try not to launch her at night due to the particularly spectacular light show she generates. You all know that and Alan more so than any of you."

Scott nodded. "I know. Father, he clearly wasn't thinking and John told me that he was in a right state when he got up to Five. I know he put himself to bed without telling Johnny what was going on and I know he'd got up this morning but more than that…" He shrugged. "More than that, I don't know. Look, you don't have to tell me what's going on but you obviously weren't yourself yesterday, right from first thing in the morning. You sent Gordon to Kansas, shouted at Alan, upset Grandma and said virtually nothing, to anyone, for the rest of the day; mealtimes included." Scott paused for a moment. "Oh, and you owe Johnny some sort of apology. He didn't speak to anyone, at all, yesterday and you went to bed without calling him. He hasn't asked for an apology but I think he needs one; especially seeing how he's going to be the one dealing with Alan for the immediate future. I'm not sure I'd want to be stuck on Five with the little twerp, especially once he finds out about Gordon."

Jeff groaned again. "It sounds like I owe apologies to half of the island. It was…I was…" Jeff let out a growl of frustration. "Yesterday morning was…upsetting…alarming…disturbing…pick whichever one you want, they all fit." Jeff looked at his son and sighed. "I was woken, early in the morning by a very distraught Kyrano. He had…news…of a distressing nature about Tin-Tin and needed to talk to me."

"Tin-Tin?" Scott interjected. "We…we'd assumed it was Kyrano himself was sick…that he'd had another one of his funny turns or something…"

Jeff shook his head. "No. It's nothing like that. Kyrano's condition seems to have stabilised, at least for now, and he hasn't had one of his attacks for some time. Hopefully we've seen the last of…whatever they were. This…this is different, Scott, in fact it couldn't really be more-so. It's Tin-Tin who's got us worried this time. She's pregnant, Scotty; pregnant with Alan's baby."

Scott's eyes opened wide and his eyebrows shot towards his hair. "Jeez," he breathed. "That's…No wonder you were upset." He shook his head and snorted lightly. "…and no wonder _Kyrano_ was upset. Is Tin-Tin okay?"

"That's the main reason she's in Kansas," Jeff smiled sadly. "So she can be properly checked over. I don't know…I don't how far along things are but so far Tin-Tin's had no pre-natal care of any description. She needs scans and vitamins and…" Jeff shrugged, dropped his hands into his lap and fell quiet.

Scott rested a hand on his father's shoulder and gave him a gentle squeeze. "Don't go there," he murmured. "This is the first Tracy grandbaby and I'm sure that Mama's already watching over him…or her."

Jeff sniffed wetly and then snorted when Scott immediately fished a handkerchief out of his pocket and handed it to him. "Scotty the boy scout, always prepared for any eventuality."

"I try," Scott grinned. "…and besides, there are a million and one uses for a good, clean handkerchief. They can fix anything from cleaning up a distraught father to stopping irresponsible little brothers from bleeding out all over the beach." Jeff frowned as Scott blanched. "Er…forget I mentioned that. You really don't want to know, save to say that I still have four younger brothers so it obviously worked out okay in the end."

Jeff rolled his eyes and looked up towards the patch of sky where he knew Thunderbird 5 was located. "You know, I wouldn't put it past Alan to throw a girl. He's always done everything his own way and if anyone can overcome six generations of boys it'll be him."

Scott flopped backwards on the soft, warm sand and stared up at the sky. "What happens now?" he asked. "Tin-Tin and Kyrano…are they staying in Kansas for the duration or…what?"

Jeff copied Scott's move and lay down beside his son. "I don't know," he admitted. "I guess that'll be up to Kyrano…and the baby, to a point. If Tin-Tin's carrying well then I suppose there's no reason they couldn't come back for a while but we're a long way from the nearest hospital if anything were to go…wrong."

"Nothing's going to go wrong," Scott replied softly. "Have faith, Father. Have faith that Mama will look after the baby and that everything will work out fine."


	13. Chapter 13

~#~ (Chapter 13)

Jeff and Scott remained on the beach for some time, talking quietly and then just lying on the sand in quiet companionship. Their quiet musings were eventually disturbed when a loud rumbling noise rolled across the beach.

Jeff looked quizzically at Scott. "Anything I should know about?"

Scott shook his head. "It's just Virgil getting Tracy 2 off the beach. I hope he thought to get Gordon well out of the way before he moved her. He…I don't think he realises just how close he came to not making it back this morning. It was dark when he crashed so he wouldn't have seen the worst of the damage. You need to prepare yourself before you see her; it's not… _she's_ not a pretty sight right now."

Jeff sat up and brushed the sand from his shirt. "In that case I think we should head back. Virgil might need help; either with the plane, or with Gordon."

~#~

Gordon was pacing back and forth in front of the door down to the hangars when Jeff and Scott walked back into the house. "You okay over there?" Scott asked as he approached.

Gordon stopped pacing and wandered across the room to meet his father and brother. "Virg won't let me help down there," he explained. "He said that he and Brains would be able to move T2 and told me I had to stay up here and wait for you. He said to tell you that we found Mirabel running in front of the door when we down there to find Brains. It looks like Alan tried to take her out and then took Three when he couldn't get the hangar door open. Oh…crap…"

"Don't worry, Gordon, I already know about last night's escapades, especially where your brother's concerned. I'll be having words with him at some point but for now let's just say that I'm just glad everyone came out of last night pretty much unscathed. The plane is incidental, it's either repairable or it's not. Thunderbird 3 is more complicated but ultimately is also a _thing_ and therefore the same rules apply."

Gordon stepped forwards and hugged his father tightly. "Thanks for not getting mad."

Jeff returned the hug. "It wasn't your fault, Gordon. If I was going to get mad with anyone it'd be Alan but, to be honest, I think there was more than enough of that yesterday and it culminated in your brother stealing the biggest, noisiest craft on the island and nearly wiping you out in the process."

"Don't remind me," Gordon shuddered. "I'm only glad that it happened when I was on my way back home rather than when I was flying out. On the way back I was on my own so it was only me who could have been hurt." Gordon pulled out of Jeff's embrace and snorted loudly, "…and let's face it, that happens on a pretty regular basis anyway."

"It happens too often," Jeff grumbled. "…no matter how many safety features Brains puts in place to protect you. You've always been a trouble magnet, Gordon Tracy and I don't see that changing any time soon."

~#~

The door to the hangars swung open and Virgil stepped through, followed by Brains. Virgil stopped and looked appraisingly at Jeff. "Good morning, Father. How are you today?"

Jeff chuckled low in his throat. "If you're wondering if I'm going to start shouting again then you don't need to worry. I've had some time to think and I've also had a long chat with your brother." He glanced at Scott who nodded gently, "Virgil, Gordon, I'm sure it'll surprise you to learn that, in the not too distant future, you're going to become uncles."

Gordon's reaction was similar to Scott's had been in that his eyes became wide and his eyebrows shot upwards. Virgil's reaction was, in contrast, harder to read. He let out a quiet huff, cocked his head to one side and swallowed deeply. "When…how…" he muttered eventually, looking at Scott. "You could've said something."

Scott flinched at the hurt displayed in his brother's chocolate-brown eyes. "It's not mine, Virg." He paused and thought for a moment, "I'd like to think that Dad wouldn't have gone _quite_ so far off the rails as he did yesterday if it had been mine, but honestly, it's not."

Virgil frowned and was about to reply when Gordon let out a yelp. "Tin-Tin," he shouted. "The stupid little…That's what yesterday was about? Tin-Tin and Kyrano and Kansas and…and…my God, what an idiot."

Scott let out an undignified bark of laughter, threw his arm around Virgil's shoulders and pulled him into a loose headlock. "Do you get it now?" he asked light-heartedly and then laughed as Virgil tried, and failed, to free himself. "'cos I have to say, Virg, that the half-fried aquanaut got it almost straight away."

Gordon's response was drowned out by Scott's yelp of surprise as he found himself tumbling onto the carpet when Virgil wrapped his left leg around Scott's right one and, without warning, dropped to the floor.

Scott laughed loudly and untangled himself from his brother before clambering to his feet and dragging Virgil back up off the floor. He shook his head at his brother and then gently poked his rib cage. "You okay now?"

Virgil looked across at Gordon who grinned back at him. "Yeah, sorry, had kind of a brain fart moment there. So…Alan…?"

"…is going to be a father." Jeff looked at Gordon who had gone pale. "Gordon, are you alright?"

Gordon shook himself. "Um...yeah. It's just…doubly lucky that Tin-Tin wasn't in the plane when I…dropped it. That…well that would've been…bad."

Jeff closed his eyes and remained quiet for a moment. Scott shared a look with Gordon and nodded briskly towards their father. Gordon winced and then shrugged. "Dad, are you okay?"

Jeff reached up and gently rubbed his eyes with the thumb and middle finger of his right hand. He let out a sigh and then looked at Gordon. "Just…thinking," he replied. "Scott told me earlier that he thought your mother would be looking out for the baby and that she wouldn't let anything happen to him or her. I…I thought you might like the sentiment."

Gordon was fully aware that he had inadvertently disturbed his father's mellow mood and he nodded a brief reply. "I do," he whispered. "...and I think Scott's probably right. There's no way Mama would let anything happen to the baby."

~#~

Brains remained with the Tracys for the rest of the morning. Scott and Virgil were worried about how Jeff was going to react to seeing the state of Tracy 2 but it turned out that they should have been more worried about Gordon's reaction than their father's.

The five men wandered slowly across the hangar to where the bright blue plane sat forlornly atop a pair of Thunderbird 2's elevator cars. Jeff shook his head sadly and wrapped Gordon in a tight hug when he felt the aquanaut recoil at the sight of the mangled Tracy 2. "Too often, Gordon," he murmured. "Far, far too often."

Gordon sniffed against Jeff's chest. "I thought she was okay. Really I did. I thought maybe some of the undercarriage would need repairing and something to do with the door or steps or…something round there. I didn't realise she was properly trashed."

Jeff rubbed Gordon's back. "I'm not sure I know the correct definition of _properly_ trashed but I'm sure your brother and Brains looked the plane over when they brought her in earlier. Virgil, Brains, what do you reckon?"

"She's salvageable, M-Mr Tracy," Brains replied. "It'll take a-a-a-a while but she'll fix up fi-fi-fine. She'll be as good as n-n-new once we're d-done."

Virgil nodded. "It's all either external or wiring, Gordon. She's fine on the inside so I don't expect any problems in there although we'll be going over the internal wiring with a fine toothcomb to make sure there are no hidden problems."

Gordon nodded but made no effort to remove himself from Jeff's embrace. Jeff patted his head and rocked him gently. "She's only an object, Gordon. Nuts, bolts, metal and plastic, that's all she is. She got you home in one piece, kept you safe and sound and Brains and Virgil will fix her up and make her fly again. She did her job, Gordon; she protected you…and that's the most important thing."

Gordon nodded again and then sighed. "Can I take Four out for a while this afternoon? I need some time to think, to get my head on straight; to just have some…me time."

Jeff thought for a moment before replying. "After lunch," he suggested. "You can go for as long as you want but you'll have to stay nearby in case a rescue gets called in. There's not enough of you left here for me to let you go freely, no matter how much I'd like to."

"I understand," Gordon nodded for a third time and then finally extricated himself from his father's arms. "I don't need to go far, just…down. Where it's quiet and dark and…" He shrugged and then looked across at Virgil and Scott who were talking quietly to Brains. "…away."

Jeff followed Gordon's gaze and smiled. "You scared them again," he murmured. "…so it's only natural that they're going to be shadowing you for a while. Look, if you're feeling up to it you can have an hour or so in the pool before it's time for lunch. If you make your escape now you can probably get up there without being caught."

Gordon smiled broadly and sidled sideways until Jeff was positioned between his brothers and himself. He then backed slowly away until he was approaching the elevator that led up into the house. He was well aware that Scott had been watching him since he had begun to move away but assumed that Jeff must have signalled his eldest son to remain in the hangar rather than follow Gordon back up into the house.

Gordon reached the elevator and sent a smart salute in his brother's direction before stepping inside. Unseen by the aquanaut, Scott nodded briefly and turned back to his conversation with Virgil and Brains.


	14. Chapter 14

~#~ (Chapter 14)

Gordon had a long swim and then joined Scott, Virgil, Jeff, Brains and Ruth for a pleasant lunch. Nearing the end of the meal, talk turned to the afternoon's plans. Ruth was less than impressed that Gordon intended to spend most of the afternoon out in Thunderbird 4 and was even less so when she questioned the aquanaut about where he was intending to go. Gordon simply turned to the window and pointed, "I'll be going that way, Grandma."

Scott and Virgil both took large swigs of their coffee to smother the laughter that threatened to escape. Both brothers knew that a deep ocean trench lay in 'that' direction and it was one that Gordon had retreated to on many an occasion. If the aquanaut was unduly stressed, pressured or just simply needed a break from island-life, he would take Thunderbird 4 and 'explore' the trench for hours on end. As a general rule he would reappear on the island as dusk was falling but on one occasion, after a particularly spectacular argument with Alan, he had spent more than three days at the bottom of the ocean just a few miles away from the island.

~#~

Gordon gave Ruth a hug and kissed her cheek before waving at the others and setting off through the house towards Thunderbird 4. Scott clambered to his feet and nudged Jeff in the direction of the lounge. Jeff nodded and then continued on his way, leaving Scott to wander in the opposite direction with Virgil.

Jeff sat down at his desk and pressed the button to call Thunderbird 5. There was a long pause and Jeff had begun to wonder if his call had been heard when John's portrait finally sprung to life. John paused just long enough to check that it was Jeff who had called and then immediately went on the offensive. "So you finally decided to get in touch," he spat. "I could excuse you not calling if it was, say, incredibly busy or maybe if you were off the island but neither of those apply to the fifty four and a half hours since you last made contact. It's been quiet and you haven't gone farther than the beach in four days which makes the fact that you haven't tried to call in the thirteen or so hours that Alan's been up here even more deplorable. He's been in a right state, all day, and if Tin-Tin's anything like the same then God help Kyrano."

John flopped down onto his control chair and sat, scowling at his father.

Jeff looked across at him in dismay. John was usually unflappable and the very epitome of calm. Other than the occasional heated debate with Scott, the astronaut rarely raised his voice and tended to quietly keep the entire family grounded from his position high above them. The mild-mannered blonde was known for keeping his head, even under the most extreme pressure, so the outburst was most unusual.

"John, I…" Jeff paused as John raised an eyebrow to acknowledge him. "John, I'm sorry. I wasn't…I wasn't myself yesterday. I know I should have called you but my head was…elsewhere. I was upset and had a lot to think about. It slipped my mind and for that I can only apologise."

"I know all this," John responded tersely. "…and I said that I could excuse you yesterday. What I can't excuse is the fact that it's taken you until almost mid-afternoon _today_ to call and check on Alan. Alan who was so traumatised by the goings on of yesterday morning that he was willing to risk life, limb and your continued wrath by leaving the island in the only way left available to him. You upset him so much and gave him so few options that you equivalently forced him to leave the planet and join me in exile up here. Oh, and I wouldn't suggest even trying to explain why you hit him. You're a hypocrite, Dad and you can't deny it. You've drilled into us throughout our whole lives that violence is never the answer; remember that? _NEVER_ the _ANSWER._ And then what do you do? Turn around and take a swing at your youngest son. Hypocrite, Dad. Hy. Po. Crite." John sat back for a moment and ground his teeth together. "I'm not dealing with this now. Go away."

John punched the button to disconnect Jeff from Thunderbird 5 and sat, slumped in the control chair with his head in his hands. Alan crept into the room and sat himself quietly on the floor beside his brother. He rested his shoulder against John's leg so that the elder blonde knew his whereabouts and then sat quietly to give John time to work through his thoughts.

~#~

John's sudden disconnection left Jeff staring across at a dark and silent portrait wall. Jeff sat and studied the portraits for a moment and then shook his head, clambered to his feet and wandered into his office.

~#~

Scott and Virgil spent several hours in Thunderbird 1's hangar, cleaning and adjusting the exhaust jets on Scott's beloved rocket-plane. They had just finished tightening the final bolt on the last of the jets when Scott's watch chimed loudly. "Scott, could you come to the lounge please?" The voice was John's and Scott nodded briefly before setting off back into the house with Virgil following closely behind.

Brains was standing in front of Jeff's desk talking quietly to John when Scott stepped into the lounge. Scott stopped, looked around and frowned. "Where's Dad?"

"He's in his office," John replied. "…and that's fine by me. There's going to be nowhere for Thunderbird 1 to land, Scott so you might as well fly the desk. It's only really Thunderbird 4 that's needed so, Virgil, I'm afraid to say that you'll just be playing chauffer and as Gordon's right at the bottom of his trench at the moment, you'll have to pick him up on the way."

"Right," Virgil took a step towards his rocket painting and then stopped and shook his head. "Let me know where I'm going once I'm on my way." He continued across the room and keyed his watch as he walked. "Gordon, you're not going to like this but I need to borrow you for a couple of hours. I promise to put you back when I'm done with you but I need you to meet me on the surface in approximately eight and one half minutes from now."

Virgil flipped over backwards and disappeared into the shaft behind the rocket painting before Gordon could reply. Scott looked at Brains and John and sighed. "He's not going to be happy about that."

John shook his head. "No he won't, but the rescue'll more than make up for it. You know how much he loves being able to do something that the WASPs can't?"

"Oh, yeah," Scott grinned. "This is another one of those times, I take it?"

John nodded. "It sure is…and Gordon's going to absolutely love it. He's got to save some WASPies because they can't save themselves. He's got to excavate and then evacuate one of their deep sea labs that's been buried in some sort of an underwater rockslide. There are some small tunnels, like natural fissures left that lead around the back of the lab but the bulk of it is completely buried. WASP don't have anything small enough to get into the fissures and they can't blast their way in for fear of further damaging the lab and risking the lives of the WASP crew who are trapped inside." John pressed a button on the console in front of him. "I've sent the coordinates down to Virgil and there's a copy waiting for you on the desk computer."

"D-D-definitely a job for G-Gordon," Brains smiled. "S-Scott, if you don't need me then I-I-I'm going to get back to Tracy 2. You-you know where I-I'll be if you n-need me."

Scott nodded and watched Brains until he was out of sight. "What's going on, Johnny?" he asked, turning back to his brother. "Between you and Dad, I mean? I'm going to have to tell him about the rescue, you know that, don't you?"

John pursed his lips and looked out of his portrait, across the room and out of the window to where Thunderbird 2 was setting off to collect Thunderbird 4. "I know," he replied. "…but you can do that once I've gone. He…we had…words, Scott; or at least I had words. He tried to apologise, I had more words and then, kind of, well, cut him off." John looked sheepish as he met Scott's gaze. "I…I may have overreacted a little but I just got so mad at him. He's being totally selfish and…" John threw his hands in the air in exasperation. "…he hit Alan."

"He what?" Scott stood up straight and looked towards the office door. "When?"

John shrugged. "Some time yesterday morning, when they were talking. Alan told me that he said something that pissed Dad off, big style, and that Dad literally launched himself across the desk, smacked him and then kind of had some sort of a breakdown. I…I take it you're up to speed with what's going on?"

Scott nodded. "Tin-Tin? Yeah, I know about the baby. Father and I had a real good talk this morning; although he neglected to mention anything about coming to blows with Alan."

John looked down at his console. "Thunderbird 4 successfully retrieved. Virgil and Gordon, now on route to rescue zone."

Scott nodded again. "Look, do you want to disappear for a bit? I need to tell Father what's going on and as much as he goes on about wanting me to learn the desk, we all know that he'll take over as soon as he finds out there's a rescue underway."

John gave his brother the ghost of a smile and nodded. "I'll go for now but, Scott, I don't want to leave things like they are. Life's too short and...anything could happen. Could you talk to him for me?"

"I'll get him to call you later," Scott promised. "After the rescue, once everything's calmed down again. Okay?" Scott waited for John's acknowledgement and hovered with his finger over the disconnect button. "Stay safe, Johnny. Look after Al and I'll speak to you soon. Bye."

~#~

The rescue went off without a hitch and, rather than being dropped back into his trench, Gordon returned to the island in high spirits. "You should have seen it, Dad. The lab was almost completely buried and the front corner had been crushed by falling debris. WASP had scrambled Stingray, Sawfish and Seadragon to try and get the crew out but they're all the same design so none of them were going to manage it. Four fitted down the fissures at the back of the lab with no problems and apart from needing to do the trip three times to get everyone out, she was fine. I hate that I have to use it but Brains' new obscurer film worked great. I had much better forward visibility than the last time I had to fog the windows and one of the lab guys even commented that he'd have liked to put a face to the 'disembodied voice' who'd rescued him so they definitely couldn't see me." Gordon stopped, took a breath and then snapped his fingers together. "Oh, oh, that reminds me, Virg, do you remember Malika Maloney? The one you went to college with? She's been promoted. I don't know when or anything but it was definitely her. I saw her as clear as anything 'cos she was piloting Sawfish."

"Good on her," Virgil nodded approvingly. "…and good on WASP, it's about time they gave a decent spot to one of the girls. Ha, Malika, well done that girl."

Jeff smiled. "And well done to you, Gordon, for another successful rescue. Are you going to stay for post-rescue munchies with your brothers or are you wanting to go 'out' again?"

"I want munchies," Gordon grinned. "I want munchies soooo, soooo badly."

Jeff rolled his eyes at Gordon. "Well if you're that desperate then you'd better go and see if your grandmother's finished getting them ready for you. Virgil, Scott, Brains, go with him or you won't get a look in. I'll be along in a moment."

Everyone headed for the kitchen and left Jeff standing in the now-quiet lounge. The Tracy patriarch glanced at the portrait wall and sighed. "I'll speak to the pair of you…" he pointed, first to John's picture and then to Alan's, "…after I've eaten." He turned towards the door and shook his head. "…assuming they've saved something for me, of course."


	15. Chapter 15

~#~ (Chapter 15)

Jeff's call interrupted John and Alan in the middle of eating their dinner and as such was far less formal than it would have been if the boys had been sitting in the control room. John routed the camera feed from the island into the audio-visual unit in Thunderbird 5's kitchen area so that Jeff could see both him and Alan as they sat opposite each other at the table which had been bolted to the floor in the centre of the room.

Jeff went to the kitchen and poured himself a mug of coffee to drink while the boys were eating. Alan sat silently and ploughed through his food without looking up at his father and John took the time to finish his dinner before finally pushing his chair away from the table and reclining it slightly. "Look, Father," he began. "I want to apologise for earlier. I was out of line and I'm sorry."

"It's me that should be apologising," Jeff replied quietly. "...to both of you. Alan…Alan could you look at me please?"

Alan hunched further forwards and stared down at the table.

"Maybe later," John murmured quietly as he leaned across the table and squeezed Alan's shoulder. "Eh?" He felt Alan shrug beneath his hand and nodded his support. "You're safe up here, Al. I'll never let anything happen to you, you know that, don't you?"

Alan nodded minutely and reached up to grip John's arm. "Need to go," he squeaked. "Need. To. Go."

John nodded understandingly. "Go then," he replied. "I'll come and find you once he's gone. Okay?"

"Okay," Alan squeezed John's arm and then stood up and hugged him tightly. "…and thanks."

John nodded and watched as Alan left the room without once looking up at their father. He sighed loudly and turned back to the screen where Jeff sat with a devastated look upon his face. "He'll come round, Father. It'll take some time but he _will_ come round."

"I know," Jeff responded sadly. "…but he shouldn't have to. I should have kept him safer. I should have made sure he wasn't put in a position where this could have happened. I should have…"

John held his hand up to stop Jeff's flow of words. "Father, stop. You're getting yourself worked up again and I'll be forced to call Grandma if you don't calm down. You won't do anyone any good by getting stressed and upset and there's absolutely no way Alan's going to come round if you're anything but calm." John dropped his hand and raised an eyebrow. "Have you finished?"

Jeff let out a loud chuff of laughter and held his hand up in defeat. "I'm done…and point taken although I have to say that threatening me with Grandma was a dirty tactic." Jeff fell quiet and looked past John towards the door which Alan had fled through. "How has he been today, John? Truthfully, please. Has he been that closed down since he arrived or was that…" Jeff waved at the door, "…was that a reaction to me?"

John pressed his lips tightly together and looked at the ceiling as if seeking some sort of divine answer. After a moment he leaned sideways and brought up a screen which showed him that Alan had gone to ground in his bedroom. "Honestly?" He looked at Jeff who nodded. "Honestly, he's been fairly quiet since he got up. He was a bit tearful first thing and he's been clingy all day but that, just then, I have to say that was mostly a reaction to you." John struggled to look at Jeff as he spoke. "I'm sorry, Father but you said you wanted the truth."

Jeff sighed loudly as he nodded. "I know. I just don't know what to do with him. I can't apologise if he won't speak to me, I can't get to him while he's up there and…" Jeff threw his hands in the air as he shrugged. "This isn't something I've had any practice with. It's new, uncharted territory and I have absolutely no idea what to do."

"I know you don't and I understand that." John spoke softly but Jeff could hear him clearly in the quiet lounge. "The first thing you need to do though, and this is going to be my number one point in absolutely anything you ask me in the next few days, is to stay calm. No hand waving, no raised voices, nothing of any sort that's going to upset Alan in any way…and that includes not telling him about what happened to Gordon. I know it was his fault but he wasn't in his right mind, Father. He was so out of it when he got here that I had to remote pilot Three in and dock her myself. When I opened her up I found Alan inside, in floods of tears and barely able to string three words together. I had no luck getting any sense out of him whatsoever so let him put himself to bed in the hope that he'd be more like himself when he got up. When he did he wasn't completely normal in any sense of the word but he was awake and aware enough to tell me at least some of what had gone on the day before." John shrugged. "Just…don't tell him about Gordon, okay?"

Jeff nodded. "Okay," he replied. "No telling him about Gordon. I'll warn the others as well but I'm not sure how happy Gordon himself will be about it."

John shrugged. "I'll talk to Gordon," he promised. "I spoke to him last night, just after he got back and it was him who told me what had happened in the first place." He checked the screen and sighed when he saw that that Alan was still in his room. "Have you heard from Kyrano at all? Al's worried about Tin-Tin, he doesn't know what's happening with the baby and unless someone down there tells him something, he's got no way of finding out what's going on. I can say for sure that the lack of useful info would be killing me…if I'd found myself in his position. You can grouch about him for being irresponsible and for not taking precautions all you like, but you can't dispute the fact that he loves that girl with all his heart. He'd give his life for Tin-Tin in a heartbeat and…sorry, to point it out, but you've split them up exactly when they need each other the most."

"I know," Jeff sighed sadly. "…and I realise that now. Kyrano and I, we…we panicked, John. Tin-Tin didn't want to leave. She didn't want to leave at all but Kyrano was distraught and needed to get away from the island, away from Alan and, I suppose, away from the broken promises that both Alan and Tin-Tin had made. He was upset, disappointed and worried about his daughter, he guessed what the news would do to me and…" Jeff shrugged. "…he needed to go."

John stared at the immobile dot on the screen that showed Alan's location. "If you hear anything; anything at all then you let me know, okay? You let me know then I can tell Alan. No matter what it is, good, bad, anything, you tell me and not him. Agreed?"

Jeff looked down at his desk top and nodded dejectedly. "Agreed."

~#~

Jeff remained in his chair long after his call to John had been completed. After sitting there for some time he sighed deeply and leant down to pull a bottle of scotch and a tumbler out of the bottom drawer of the desk. He poured a generous amount of scotch into the glass, took a sip and then gathered up both the bottle and glass and let himself out of the sliding patio doors

He wandered slowly down onto the beach and stopped at the edge of the ocean where he stood, silently until Scott came looking for him.

"I hope you're not planning on walking into the ocean," Scott murmured as he stopped beside his father. "…'cos we'd miss you, you know?"

"Four of you maybe," Jeff said softly as he bent down to pick the Scotch up from where it was sat by his feet and handed it to Scott. "I think the fifth would rejoice in my…missingness right about now."

Scott held the bottle up towards the setting sun and frowned at him. "How much of this have you had?"

Jeff smiled sadly and held up his glass. "About an eighth of an inch. I've been nursing it rather than drinking it. I've been standing here trying to work out where I went wrong with Alan…why he's so different from the rest of you…"

Scott winced and unstoppered the Scotch. He put the bottle to his lips and took small mouthful of drink which he savoured for a moment before lowering the bottle and pointing it at Jeff. "You know the answer to that," he murmured. "…and it's why you lost it so spectacularly when you found out about the baby." Scott took another swig of Scotch and then carefully replaced the top. "Alan may have been raised _with_ us and _by_ us but he wasn't raised the _same_ as us. There's no way he ever could have been; you know that and you know why."

Jeff swirled the Scotch around in his glass and watched as the light reflected off the amber liquid. He remained silent for several moments and then lifted the glass to his lips, downed the drink in one and set off up the beach with Scott following closely behind him.


	16. Chapter 16

~#~ (Chapter 16)

International Rescue were called out to a mine collapse early the next morning. Scott, Virgil and Gordon set off in Thunderbirds 1 and 2 only to find themselves turned back roughly half an hour out from the island when some of the local villagers managed to free the trapped miners, completely unscathed, via a long-forgotten exit that someone had spotted on an old map of the mine.

The rest of the day passed quietly both down on the island and up on Thunderbird 5. John, as usual, kept a close eye on the computer screen that showed where the various family members were at any given moment in time. The six coloured spots on Tracy Island stayed within a relatively small area as was normal but John watched with interest as the two spots in Kansas spent the day travelling from one location to another before finally ending up back at the Tracy homestead as the sun began to set.

~#~

Jeff called up to Thunderbird 5 at his usual time, just after dinner. He found John in the control room but there was a noticeable lack of Alan which John explained was because the youngster was still trying to avoid any unnecessary confrontations with Jeff.

"He's very quiet, Father," John told Jeff. "He's been kind of following me around like a lost lamb and doesn't seem to know what to do with himself. He's not supposed to be up here yet and is desperately trying not to get in my way but at the same time he doesn't want to be alone so hasn't really let me out of his sight much all day." John looked around at the closed door behind him and shrugged. "It's made keeping an eye on the Kyranos a bit difficult but I can tell you that they've been to see Doctor Sumner, or at least they've been to the surgery so I assume they saw someone, even if it wasn't him. They had lunch after visiting the doctor and then spent the afternoon at the hospital. They're both back at the farm now and if I were to hazard a guess I'd say that Tin-Tin put herself to bed as soon as they got back. I can't decide if that's a good sign, a bad sign or if it's just a sign that she's still not entirely happy with her father, in much the same way that another certain someone, who's also gone to bed, isn't happy with his."

Jeff sighed. "I'd guess at a combination of tiredness, a busy day and the latter of your three options," he replied. "Tin-Tin's been brought up to respect her father so she won't actively stand up to him but it doesn't mean that she'll do exactly what he says either. Putting herself to bed and equivalently out of reach is a passive form of protest and one that she can do without fear of any physical repercussions of any kind."

John nodded thoughtfully. "Look, Father, I don't know if you've spoken to Kyrano since he left but if you haven't then now might be a good time. He's on his own at the end of a long and stressful day and I'm sure he'd appreciate a call right about now. What do you reckon?"

"I think you're probably right," Jeff replied. "…and I'm sure Kyrano would appreciate that you're thinking of him." Jeff paused and reached up to scratch his head. "…although I might neglect to mention that you've been watching his and Tin-Tin's every move all day."

John chuckled. "Not _all_ day; just…part of it; and it's not like I don't normally keep my eye on everybody; it's just they're not with everyone else like they normally are."

"True." Jeff shrugged. "Well it doesn't look like Alan's going to show his face while I'm still here so I guess I'll take my leave of you for now. I'll call you tomorrow, John but if you need me before then..."

"…I know where you are." John smiled as he tapped the computer screen. "I _always_ know where you are!"

~#~

John sat quietly for several minutes and then tried to access the video phone on Jeff's desk. The phone returned an engaged tone so he repeated the process for the phone at the farmhouse in Kansas and smiled when that was also engaged.

John watched the spots on his screen for a moment longer to make sure that Jeff and Kyrano were completely settled and then he sent out a quiet ping. "Tin-Tin," he whispered. "Are you awake?"

The screen of John's watch sprang to life when the ping was immediately answered. Tin-Tin's face was pale and her eyes were red-rimmed from crying. "John?" she croaked. "Is that you?"

John nodded and gave her an encouraging smile. "It sure is, Honey. I thought you might appreciate a friendly face, right about now. I would have got Alan to call but I wasn't sure how well he'd be received."

"How is he?" Tin-Tin shuffled herself up the bed until she was sitting on her pillow. "I didn't see him before we left." Twin tears escaped from her eyes, rolled down her cheeks and slipped down her neck to soak into the soft green silk of her blouse. "I didn't even get to speak to him. I didn't get to speak to him and he's not here. He…he…he's not here, John."

John watched helplessly as Tin-Tin let out a sob. She put a hand over her mouth in an attempt to remain quiet and tears fell unchecked from her eyes. "Aw, Honey, don't cry. I know he's not there but I also know that loves you, with all his heart and that he was desperately unhappy when he found out that you'd gone. He couldn't stay down there without you, so he's up here with me." John chuckled softly. "The thought of losing you literally drove him from the planet, Tin and if that's not a sign of how much he cares for you then I don't know what is. Do you want me to fetch him?"

Tin-Tin let out a gasp and nodded. "Oh yes, John, please. I'd give anything to speak to him. Anything."

"Nothing required, Honey, I just hate seeing you both so upset." John glanced at his computer screen to check that Alan was still in his room. "I tell you what, I'm going to take you to him rather than the other way around 'cos he's…well, I think he's in bed. He's not on speaking terms with Father at the moment and I was speaking to the island before I called you so…" John shrugged. "I'll have you there in a minute, just…hang on."

~#~

John waved his hand across the access panel outside Alan's room and the door swished opened. Alan was lying stretched out on his bed with his back to the door and made no move to acknowledge his brother's entrance into the room. John held a finger up to his lips to tell Tin-Tin to keep quiet and then unbuckled his watch and held it securely in the palm of his left hand. After silently nodding to Tin-Tin he crossed the room, crouched beside Alan and gently gripped his shoulder.

"Hey," he whispered. "Are you awake? I've got someone who wants to talk to you."

Alan flopped forwards, away from his brother. "Don't wanna talk to anyone. Tell 'em to leave me alone."

John rolled his eyes at Alan and swapped his watch into his right hand. "Shut up and take my watch, you idiot," he murmured, holding it in front of Alan. "…and just…look."

Alan wrapped his hand around the watch, moved it up to where he could see it and let out a breathy squeak. His shoulders began to shake and his breathing became erratic as he fought to keep from breaking down completely. John sat on the floor and rubbed his back supportively, "Easy there, Big Guy. Calm down and breathe. Come on."

Alan shuddered and hugged the watch to his chest as he rolled onto his back and then fidgeted around until he was facing John. He uncurled his hands, pressed the watch against his forehead and let out a long, shaky breath. "Thank you."

John nodded sadly. "It's the least I could do. Now, are the two of you going to behave if I leave the pair of you in here together?"

Alan snorted and held out his left arm as he nodded. "Take that...just in case."

John nodded again and unbuckled Alan's watch from around his wrist. "Take as long as you want," he murmured softly. "…and come and find me when you're done. I'll make you some cocoa and we can talk, okay?" John patted Alan's shoulder and gathered his legs beneath himself in preparation for standing up. He managed to get to his knees but then found himself wrapped in Alan's arms as his brother hugged him tightly. "I know, Al. I know. I'm not going far. Talk to Tin-Tin then come and find me when you're ready."

John returned Alan's hug and then pressed him gently back onto the bed and ruffled his hair. "Behave."


	17. Chapter 17

~#~ (Chapter 17)

Alan woke early the next morning knowing that Tin-Tin had a scan booked for eleven am and that she was due to receive the results of her blood tests, which had been taken at the hospital the previous afternoon, during the same appointment. The youngest Tracy boy moped around Thunderbird 5 for several hours, annoyed John with constant questions and inane conversation and then found himself parked in his brother's usual seat in front of the computer which John used to keep track of everybody.

"Why don't you keep your eye on Tin-Tin, then you'll know when she sets off for the hospital?" John suggested. "You won't be able to contact her until later on but at least you'll be able to see where she is, even if you can't see exactly what she's doing. I know it's not the same as being there but it's the best I can do."

Alan nodded and hunched over the screen to peer at the little purple dot that represented Tin-Tin. "Do you do this a lot?" he asked. "Spying on everyone, I mean? Were you watching me, the other day, when I…when I was…"

"…hiding in the caves near Gordon's cove?" John finished Alan's query and laughed. "Yeah, I noticed you…even tried to ping you a couple of times but I guess you had a lot on your mind and didn't notice."

Alan looked at his watch and frowned. "I guess I was. Sorry if it looked like I was ignoring you, I could have done with someone to talk to as well…"

John patted Alan's shoulder. "As I said, your mind was obviously elsewhere." He nodded at the screen. "Heads up, she's on the move."

~#~

Alan watched as Tin-Tin and Kyrano left the Tracy farm and headed to the hospital. He then sat and stared at Tin-Tin's purple dot for almost half an hour but she remained almost completely still within the hospital building and he found his attention beginning to wander. He fiddled with the settings on the computer until the screen was displaying the island and he could see where Scott, Virgil, Gordon, Jeff, Ruth and Brains were. He smiled when he worked out that Gordon was in the pool, Jeff was sitting at poolside and Brains was in Thunderbird 2's hangar. Ruth was out in her garden and Scott and Virgil were heading towards the beach together. "Everyone's outside," he announced. "…apart from Brains. I reckon he's tinkering with something out of one of the pods 'cos he's not moving much."

John stepped up behind Alan and glanced at the screen. "I reckon you're probably right. Scott and Virgil aren't hanging around though. Look."

The blue and yellow spots designating Scott and Virgil were now travelling away from the house at high speed. "Pre-lunch jog?" Alan asked.

"Nah," John shook his head. "…they're moving too fast. Hoverbikes'd be a safe bet. I know Virgil's been trying to make them faster and Scott's wanted them more stable since you took your tumble in South America."

"Don't remind me," Alan shuddered. "If Gordon wasn't such a good shot I'd've been lunch."

John patted him on the back. "You would," he agreed. "...and talking of lunch, I'm going to go and rustle us something up. You feel like anything in particular?"

Alan thought for a moment before replying. "Something orange."

"Orange?" John cocked an eyebrow at his little brother. "I'll see what I can do. Will you keep your eye on things in here while I'm gone?"

Alan nodded and turned back to the screen so John shook his head, turned and walked away.

~#~

Alan soon became bored with watching the coloured spots on Tracy Island and decided to see for himself whether John had been right in his guess that Scott and Virgil were testing the hover bikes. He used the computer to log into the CCTV system on the island and immediately selected the camera which covered the section of beach where Alan knew Scott and Virgil were.

His brothers had a hoverbike each and were enthusiastically chasing each other up and down one of the longest stretches of beach on the island. Virgil's enhancements to the small machines had obviously had quite an impact because both Scott and Virgil were getting far greater speeds out of them than would have previously been possible. "Whoa," Alan breathed. "I've got to get me a go on one of those. Way to go, Virg, they look great."

Alan watched Scott and Virgil for a couple of minutes before redirecting the cameras onto Gordon and Jeff. Gordon had completed his swim by that point and was curled up on one of the sun loungers beside the pool, talking to his father. There was no audio on the CCTV system so Alan couldn't hear what was being said but he laughed as he watched Jeff being very animated as he explained something to his water-loving son.

Alan and the CCTV system paid a short visit to Ruth as she tended the plants in her vegetable garden. The old woman was, in Alan's opinion, picking non-existent weeds out from between the vegetable plants and he soon moved on to the remaining person on the island; Brains.

~#~

Brains was exactly where Alan expected him to be but wasn't working on one of the pod vehicles. He was working on a very pitiful looking Tracy 2 which Alan could see tucked at the back of the hangar, well out of the way of Thunderbird 2.

As the youngest Tracy boy watched, Brains pulled something off the underside of the plane and laid it carefully down on the floor behind himself. He then sat cross-legged beside the part and dismantled it before picking up one of the components and wandering out of view.

Alan frowned at the screen. "I guess Dad'll have to use Mirabel if he needs to go anywhere in the next few days," he murmured. "Scott won't like it but it's not like Dad to crash. I guess something must have broken."

Alan leant back on the chair, put his hands above his head and stretched his arms. He yawned, looked around the control room for a moment and then huffed and tapped his watch. "When's lunch?" he asked. "I'm hungry, I've run out of people to watch and I'm about to get bored."

John sighed loudly and Alan began to wonder if John was hiding out in the kitchen just to get some peace and quiet when he replied with "Lunch will be as long as it takes. Have you checked on Tin-Tin recently? She might be on the move by now and you can go back to watching her."

Alan sent the CCTV system into the background and brought John's usual screen back up. He selected Tin-Tin and then huffed loudly when he discovered that she was still in the hospital. "She hasn't moved," he complained. "I'm not sitting here watching a purple dot that might not do anything for the next two hours."

"Well do something else then," John snapped. "Look, why don't you do…whatever it is that you normally do when you're up here. What would you be doing if I wasn't here? If you had Thunderbird 5 all to yourself, what would you be doing, right at this moment?"

Alan glanced at his watch and thought for a moment. "I'd be making lunch. I'd be making lunch and I'd be making it way faster than you are."

John gritted his teeth together and growled quietly. "Assume that you've already eaten lunch," he said quietly. "You've eaten lunch, you've washed up, you've…been to the bathroom and then what? What would you do _after_ lunch?"

"I'd kill some zombies," Alan replied, matter-of-factly. "Gordon's threatening to topple me off the top of the leader board and I need to get higher so he can't manage it."

John looked at his brother in disbelief. "Seriously? You're sitting here inside one of the most technologically advanced pieces of equipment on, or above, the planet and the best use you can find for it is killing zombies?"

"It's a good game," Alan replied. "…and I haven't got anything else to do so why not?"

John shook his head and looked disappointed. "Whatever. Do what you want. Lunch'll be ready soon."

John disconnected the call which left Alan staring at a blank screen of his watch. "Well he's certainly tetchy today and I definitely got the impression that he doesn't want me using you to beat Gordon." Alan patted the console in front of himself. "So what are we going to do instead?" Alan flicked backwards and forwards between Tin-Tin's immobile dot and the CCTV feed showing Brains who had reappeared beneath Tracy 2. He flicked the screen several more times and then allowed it to stop on the live feed from the island. "How about we find out what Dad did to his plane, eh?" He patting the console again. "It's not zombies so John can't moan and it might be useful for Brains to see what happened. Right, where to start?"

~#~

John felt mildly guilty for being short with Alan but remained in the quiet kitchen for quite some time. The astronaut had long-since accustomed himself to sustained periods of silence aboard Thunderbird 5 and often struggled to relax in the noisy hubbub of everyday life down on Tracy Island. He relished the company of his family but at the same time needed the peace and tranquillity that only Thunderbird 5 could provide and Alan, while being a welcome distraction for a short while, had proved very trying that morning and John found himself feeling unusually out of sorts. 

He sighed and gathered the lunch together on a tray so he could take it back to the control room. He wandered slowly through the space station and pushed the control room door open with his bottom so he could keep hold of the tray with both hands.

John turned around to put the tray down on the table and noticed Alan staring at the computer screen with a deep frown on his face. "What's up?" he asked. "Have the zombies eaten your brains or something?"

Alan turned to his brother and his frown deepened. "Did I knock Gordon out of the sky the other night?"

"Ah," John winced. "Not zombies then?"

Alan shook his head. "You obviously didn't want me playing it so, for want of anything better to do, I went back to messing with the cameras. No-one was doing much of anything so I thought I'd try and find out what made Dad crash his plane. I figured that I might be able to see something on one of the camera feeds that'd help Brains work out what went wrong." Alan sighed loudly and slumped against the back of his seat. "But nothing did go wrong, did it? At least nothing mechanical, electrical or anything-else-ical. It was me, John. I went wrong. It looks like I kind of tried to fly straight through Gordon when all he was trying to do was go home."

John stepped around his brother and looked at the screen which Alan had playing on a short, continuous loop. "It's never going to look any better, no matter how many times you watch it. All you're going to end up doing is upsetting yourself."

"I know," Alan nodded. "It's just…I know that Gordon made it out okay but…I don't really know _how_ he did. How did he walk away from that completely unharmed?"

John pressed a button to stop the looping footage and flicked the cameras back to displaying live footage from the island. He opened up the feed of the poolside area and zoomed in on the sun loungers. "It's kind of…what he does." John sighed sadly. "It puts years on Father every time he has another of his near misses and it worries me that one day, when Gordon's luck finally runs out, we'll lose them both."

Alan reached out and held a finger against the patch of screen showing Jeff's face. "He said something like that to me…the other day, when we were talking. He said that he doesn't send Gords out that often because he can't bear the thought of him not coming back and that it makes him think about the hospital…after the accident." Alan shrugged and fell quiet.

John patted Alan's shoulder and nodded. "If you watch him, Father I mean, if you really watch how he looks at Gordon, it's almost as if he knows that Gords is living on borrowed time. He'd do anything…and I mean anything…to extend that time, even if it means limiting Gordon's freedom by such a crippling degree."

"I guess that's why Gordon's allowed to take Four and just go…off; 'cos Dad knows he won't go far and that he'll be relatively safe 'cos he's just sort of floating around down there." Alan leaned back against John who wrapped an arm around him. "I'm sorry for bugging you earlier. I didn't mean to."

John squeezed him gently. "I know and I'm sorry for being short with you." He jiggled Alan slightly and pointed towards the table. "I've done my best to make an orange lunch for you. Carrot and coriander soup with crackers and rehydrated orange juice. Is that good enough?"

Alan unwrapped John's arm from around his shoulders, leant towards the table and smiled. "Yep. Definitely. Let me put Tin-Tin back on here, then we can watch her while we eat."


	18. Chapter 18

~#~ (Chapter 18)

John and Alan had barely started on their soup when Tin-Tin and Kyrano began moving. They walked slowly through the hospital together, had a brief stroll around a nearby park and then headed back to the farmhouse.

Tin-Tin remained in the kitchen with Kyrano for some time before finally retreating back to Alan's childhood bedroom where she was staying. When Kyrano and herself had arrived in Kansas, Tin-Tin had automatically put herself in Alan's room while Kyrano had taken Ruth's which was on the floor below.

Tin-Tin hugged her handbag against her chest and lay quietly on the bed. After several minutes she held the bag out in front of her, reached inside it and pulled out an envelope containing the scan pictures that had been taken at the hospital earlier that day. She looked thorough the pictures, gently stroked the image of the baby and then reached down and rested her hand on her stomach. "You're a little trouble maker already," she murmured. "Just like your daddy."

~#~

Alan had just returned to the control room after clearing away the lunch items when his watch let out a soft chime. He looked at John who shrugged, "It wasn't me."

Alan chuckled and pressed the button to find out who was calling. Rather than a person he was faced with a black and white picture and he squinted at it for a moment before working out what he was looking at. "How do I get this on there?" he asked, pointing from his watch to the computer screen. "It needs to be bigger."

John rolled his eyes and punched a sequence of six codes into the keyboard beneath the console. With a sideways smirk at his brother, he entered Alan's password, tapped 'return' and stepped backwards so that Alan could see the screen.

"It worked!" Alan exclaimed. "Hey, look. John, just look."

John grinned at Alan's excitement. "Well would you look at that," he murmured softly. "The next generation of the Tracy family." He held an arm out and pulled Alan into a hug. "…and it's all yours."

Alan hugged John tightly before turning to gaze at the screen again. "Wow."

John smiled at his brother. "I'll make myself scarce so you can call Tin-Tin in peace. I'd hazard a guess that she's got quite a bit to tell you. If she wants to send you anything else you press this, this and that and then enter your password and press return. Got it?"

"This, this, that, password, return. Got it. Can we print that?" Alan nodded at the screen.

John nodded. "We can save it, print it or send it on, whatever you want to do with it. Five'll backup anything you do automatically and I'll get everything off the backup for you later on. Call Tin-Tin, Al, and leave me to worry about the technical side of things. I'll be in my room if you need me." John took several steps towards the door and then paused and turned back to his brother. "I don't supposed anyone's said it but…congratulations."

Alan cocked his head to one side, thought for a moment and then grinned. "Cool!" He bounded across the room, gave John a quick hug and then bounced back to the computer screen and dropped himself into the chair. John rolled his eyes and set off down the corridor. "See you later…Daddy."

~#~

Alan pinged Tin-Tin's watch and went back to staring at the screen while he waited for her to answer. Tin-Tin connected the call and smiled at the tender expression on Alan's face. "Alan," she called softly. "Aaaalan."

Alan jumped at Tin-Tin's quiet call and lifted his watch up so he could see her. "Hi," he replied shyly and turned the watch so Tin-Tin could see what he was looking at. "That's...that's our baby, Tin. Our baby."

A lone tear trickled down Tin-Tin's cheek as she pressed her lips together and nodded. "I wish you'd been there to see him," she murmured. "You could see his little heart beating and the doctor used a microphone-thing so we could hear it as well. It beats really fast, Alan but the doctor said that's normal and that he's got a good, strong heart." Tin-Tin giggled softly. "I don't think he was impressed with being poked around 'cos he was waving his arms about like a wriggly little peanut."

Alan let out a chuff of laughter. "He does look kind of peanutish at the moment." Alan turned his watch back towards himself. "He's cool, Tin. Peanutish but very cool."

Tin-Tin giggled again. "He might not actually be a he, by the way, he's just as likely to be a she. It's too early to tell but I refuse to call him "it" so he's a he for now. Do you mind?"

"If Dad's to be believed then he'll be a he anyway so I guess he'll be fine." Alan shook his head and laughed. "This conversation's gone kind of weird." He gazed at Tin-Tin and his eyes softened. "How's Kyrano been with you today?"

Tin-Tin shrugged. "He's trying," she replied softly. "Really he is, it's just…difficult." Tin-Tin shrugged again. "He had a long talk with your father last night and I think that helped a lot. This little one though..." Tin-Tin looked at her stomach and patted it. "…is on his way and there's nothing that anyone, anywhere can do about it. Father's got to get his head around that as well as the fact that his only daughter betrayed his faith in her and let him down."

"Don't say that," Alan cried. "You did nothing wrong and if Kyrano can't see that then that's his problem, not yours. There's enough going on at the moment without him piling extra stress on you just because he can't accept what happened between us. It's not like we planned…that…or…this and it's not fair on him to blame _any of it_ on you." Alan jumped to his feet, spun round in a circle and growled. "I hate this. I hate that I'm stuck here when I should be down there with you. I hate that I can't look after you or help you with Kyrano." Alan flopped back onto the chair and let out a sob. "I just want to be there to keep you and Peanut safe and no-one will give me the chance."

Tin-Tin scrubbed at the tears that had begun flowing down her face. "I know," she sobbed. "This isn't fair. I don't want to be here, you don't want to be there and no-one wants us to be together so we can't go home." Tin-Tin scrubbed at her face again and sniffed loudly. "I can see why people end up running aw..."

Tin-Tin silenced herself mid-word when she heard a quiet knock on her bedroom door. "Leave me alone," she called out, trying to sound somewhat calmer than she was. "Father, please. I need time to gather my thoughts so please, let me be."

Kyrano gave a quiet reply which Alan couldn't hear and retreated back downstairs. Tin-Tin flopped onto her bed, curled herself in a ball and dissolved into a flood of tears.

~#~

Alan frantically tried to rouse Tin-Tin from the desperately upset state that she'd fallen into but the young woman was too distraught to acknowledge his calls. Alan jumped to his feet and ran through the corridors of Thunderbird 5 until he reached the air lock where Thunderbird 3 was docked. In a state of panic, he punched in the code to activate the air lock and screamed at it when the door refused to move. "NO!" he shrieked. "You can't do this to me. I need to go." Alan kicked the base of the airlock door as hard as he was able. "OPEN UP, DAMN YOU. I NEED TO GO."

~#~

John skidded to a halt behind Alan, wrapped his arms around him and dragged him down until he had Alan trapped in a sitting position between his legs. Alan fought for all he was worth but John had both a height and weight advantage over him and eventually the younger Tracy ran out of steam. "I need to go," he sobbed. "I need. To. Go."

John was desperately trying to catch his breath but he hugged Alan to his chest and held him firmly. "I got that," he gasped. "...but breaking the air lock isn't going to help your cause and neither is breaking your foot."

Alan leaned backwards and attempted to flip himself out of John's grasp but unfortunately for him, his brother had pre-empted the move and he ended up pinned even more tightly against John's chest than he had been before. His head was tucked snugly beneath John's chin and his arms were curled in a foetal position in front of him.

"Don't. Do that. Again," John growled. "…or one of us is going to end up getting hurt." He sat with Alan and hugged him until he felt the tension draining from the younger man and then gave Alan a comforting squeeze and kissed the top of his head. "Do you want to tell me what that was all about?"

Alan sniffed loudly and pressed back gently against John's arms. John loosened his grip on his brother but kept his arms around him in case he tried to flee. "There, you're confined without being overly restricted." John sighed. "You were happy when I left you. What happened?"

Alan sniffed again and chewed at one of his thumb nails to delay answering. "Kyrano's giving Tin-Tin a hard time," he said eventually. "She says that he's disappointed in her and that she's let him down. She doesn't want to stay in Kansas, she just wants to go home but she's not allowed, I'm stuck up here so I'm not down there, no-one will let us be together and she was crying and upset and..." Alan huffed loudly and sagged against John who hugged him loosely.

"I hoped that talking things through with Father last night would have settled Kyrano down a bit," John remarked with a frown. "…but it doesn't seem to have done so." John's frown deepened and he reached up to scratch his ear. "God, this is an almighty great mess."

Alan sighed softly and nodded his agreement. He remained quiet and still for several minutes and John found himself supporting more and more of his brother's weight as he began to slip into a light doze.

"Hey," John shook him gently. "Don't fall asleep yet. Help me get you up off the floor and you can go to bed for a bit."

Alan lifted his head and looked groggily up at John. "Bed?"

"Yeah," John replied. "It'll be comfier than the floor. You can have a couple of hour's shut-eye and then we'll work out what needs to happen next."

~#~

John coaxed Alan up off the floor, led him into his bedroom and tucked him into bed. He sat beside the bed until he was certain that Alan was fast asleep and then wandered slowly towards the control room where he sat, staring at the scan picture which Alan had left on his screen.


	19. Chapter 19

~#~ (Chapter 19)

John fell asleep in the control room and only woke when Jeff called him, just before dinner. "Father, hi," John blinked blearily at his watch. "What time is it?"

"It's just before six pm." Jeff cocked his head to one side and studied his son. "It's not like you to nap during the day, John, is everything alright up there?"

John leaned over and fiddled with the console until he could see that Alan was still in bed. He then stretched, scrubbed his fingers through his hair, rubbed his face and groaned. "Not really, no. Alan tried to leave, discovered he couldn't and kind of…lost it." John shook his head and frowned. "Actually that's not strictly true; he'd lost it before then, it's just that not being able to get through the air lock was what finished him off." John sagged in his chair as he massaged the bridge of his nose between the thumb and forefinger of his right hand. "Sorry, it's just…not been the best of days."

Jeff reached into one of the drawers of the desk and pulled out a small, personal view screen. He switched it on, swapped the feed from Thunderbird 5 onto it and closed down John's main portrait. "It's just you and me now. Your portrait's off so you won't be overheard. Talk to me, John, tell me what's been going on."

John explained that he and Alan had been in touch with Tin-Tin the night before and how this had left Alan in a peculiar, and aggravating, mood the next morning. He told Jeff how excited Alan had been when he'd received the scan picture from Tin-Tin and then went on to describe how he had left Alan alone in the control room so that he could call Tin-Tin in private.

"He came out of there like he had a pack of hell hounds on his tail, Father and he went straight for Thunderbird 3. I disabled his access codes the other morning so he was never going to manage to get in but I don't think he realised it until he couldn't get the door to work." John glanced at the cream-coloured dot that represented his brother. "I didn't get a huge amount of sense out of him because he'd exhausted himself fighting with me and he was still upset. The gist of it seemed to be that Tin-Tin's getting stressed about the fact that she's let Kyrano down and that he's disappointed in her. I don't know all the details but Alan said that Kyrano was giving her a hard time and that she doesn't want to stay in Kansas. She just wants to go home, for Alan to go home and for the pair of them to be together."

Jeff sighed softly. "Alan can come home whenever he wants to. The only stipulation I have is that _you_ bring him down and that you don't let him out of your sight until Thunderbird 3 is in some way disabled so we can't have a repeat performance of the other evening."

"So he'll still be stuck on the island then?" John asked quietly and then sighed when Jeff nodded.

"He has to be," Jeff replied sadly. "…or he'll be in Kansas before any of us can so much as blink."

John shook his head in exasperation. "That's the whole point. He wants…no, not wants, he _needs_ to be with Tin-Tin. If she's not there," John pointed at Jeff, "…then he needs to be..." John held his finger out again and jabbed it towards the floor in the corner of the room. "…there. You can't keep them apart, Father; it's not fair, it's not right and...I'm not sure it's humane."

Jeff held a hand up to the screen. "John stop, please stop and just listen a minute. This might not make a lot of sense but listen anyway. Alan and Tin-Tin, they've been separated, yes, but not because…not because I…we…not because we want them apart." Jeff shook his head. "Sorry, I warned you it might not make sense. They're not being kept apart because we don't want them together; they're being kept apart so that A – Tin-Tin can get the specialised healthcare that we can't provide on the island, B – so that Kyrano can get a handle on everything that's happened and C – so that he can make his peace with Tin-Tin which he'll stand absolutely no chance of doing if Alan's anywhere nearby."

"A is no reason to keep them apart and is denying Alan his rights as a father who just wants to look after his family, I'll let you have B but I'm not sure I can accept C if this afternoon's breakdown was anything to go by. Kyrano's not making his peace with Tin-Tin at the moment and won't be able to until he's got everything straight in his head. In the meantime he just seems to be stressing her out and that's the last thing she needs right now." John glanced at his screen when he noticed that Alan's cream coloured dot was moving. The dot wandered out of the bedroom, down the corridor, into the bathroom and then stopped again. "Alan's awake."

Jeff nodded. "Understood. But John, before he appears, I want to make sure you understand what I was trying to say. Kyrano's struggling, badly, with everything that's going on. The whole situation conflicts with the values that he strives to uphold and Alan turning up there would undoubtedly compound the problem further. The separation won't be forever, just for…a while."

"I'll talk to Alan," John murmured. "…and I'll try to explain. He's not going to be happy though."

Jeff shook his head. "No, he won't. Tell him…tell him that I'll be calling Kyrano again tonight. Tell him I can't promise it'll help but I'll call Kyrano and I'll try to gauge where his head is at. I'll also try to find out whether Tin-Tin is even able to come home at the moment. She may need to stay close to the hospital or they may have imposed travel restrictions on her in which case she might not be allowed back home for some time."

John nodded thoughtfully and watched as Alan's dot approached the control room. "Alan'll be here in a second, Father so I'm going to have to go. I'll talk to him and I'll tell him that you'll be in touch; with me if not with him."

~#~

Alan wandered into the control room and glanced over at the computer screen. "Have you been watching me?"

John chuckled. "Only for a couple of minutes. I was sleeping before that, the same as you. It seems our impromptu roughhousing session earlier took a lot out of both of us."

Alan's cheeks flushed red and he found himself unable to meet John's gaze. "Yeah, about that. I…I'm sorry. I must have looked kind of…nuts."

"No more than usual," John replied with a smile. "No more than usual."

Alan smiled sheepishly and leaned over to centre the screen on Tin-Tin. "She's still in bed."

John peered at the screen and nodded. "If she was anything like as upset as you were then bed's probably the best place for her. You seem calmer now you've had a nap and hopefully she'll be the same." John studied his brother for a moment. "No hard feelings? About locking you in, I mean?"

"No," Alan replied. "I can understand why you wouldn't want me making off with Three…at least I can now I'm thinking straight. I'm not exactly sure where I thought I was going to land her in Kansas but I'm sure she wouldn't have been in any fit state to come back up here after I'd tried."

John shook his head. "No, I don't think she would have. She lands at home, Alan, you know that. She lands at home or, at a push, at one of the bigger WASA sites. She will not…ever…attempt to land in a cornfield; be that one in Kansas or anywhere else for that matter. You got that?"

Alan grinned. "Yes, sir, I understand. No cornfield landings for the big, red rocket." The grin slipped as Alan looked at his brother. "I wouldn't be welcome, even if I did make it to Kansas. I deflowered Kyrano's only daughter and he's going to hate me forever."

"Deflowered?" John repeated. "Well, that's an...out-dated way of putting it and 'hate' is a very harsh word, especially when used in regards to Kyrano. He's upset and aggrieved but I'm not sure he actually has it in his heart to hate anyone or anything. He'll come round eventually, he just needs some time. Father's going to call him again tonight and said that he'll subtly try to evaluate Kyrano's state of mind while he's talking to him. He also said to tell you that he'll try and find out if there's any medical reason that Tin-Tin has to stay in Kansas or if she'll be able to go home once Kyrano agrees to it."

Alan nodded slowly. "I got the impression that it was Kyrano keeping them there but…" Alan frowned and looked worried. "…we sort of got side-tracked and upset and...everything so I don't suppose we really finished the conversation. I know that Peanut's got a strong heartbeat and that Tin-Tin's heard it and the doctor says he's fine. Tin didn't say anything about her blood tests or anything today but yesterday she said that she didn't really feel any different to normal so she's not feeling bad or sick or…anything."

"Well hopefully that's a good sign. With any luck Father'll find out that Tin-Tin's results are all fine and Kyrano will calm down enough that he'll let her go home soon." John paused and smiled at his brother. "You're calling him Peanut?"

Alan began to look sheepish again. "I'm calling him 'him' as well but that's Tin's fault, not mine. She doesn't know what he is and doesn't want to call him 'it' so she's calling him 'him' and I'm calling him Peanut 'cos he kind of looks like one."

"Fair enough. Peanut it is." John shrugged and then chuckled. "You probably ought to know that he'll hate it by the time he hits his teens though. It's a bit of a 'rad' and 'out there' sort of a name."

Alan pulled his head back and looked quizzically at his brother. "What are you…eh? Oh…" Alan laughed and reached over the punch John's arm. "He won't be Peanut forever. I guess he'll be…he'll be…um…I don't know what he'll be. That's a girl thing, isn't it, naming babies? I thought they all had some sort of preselected list of names that they picked out like forever ago?"

John snorted loudly. "I have absolutely no idea, you'll have to ask Tin-Tin the next time you speak to her."

Alan shrugged. "I might, I'll see how things go; if she's still feeling okay and…stuff."

~#~

John made dinner for himself and Alan and the pair ate it sitting in at the table in Thunderbird 5's kitchen area. Alan cleared up after they'd finished eating and then followed John back to the control room where the older Tracy proceeded to thoroughly beat him in several fast-paced chess battles.

~#~

After his third successive defeat, Alan gave up. "Do you think Dad's spoken to Kyrano yet?"

John glanced at his watch and let out a non-committal noise. "He hasn't called to speak to us so he either doesn't know anything, hasn't spoken to Kyrano or the call didn't go well. Why don't you call Tin-Tin and check she's okay after the fuss this afternoon."

Alan nodded and wandered away in the direction of his bedroom.

~#~

Alan lay on his bed, pinged Tin-Tin's watch and then waited for her to reply. There was a short delay before Tin-Tin answered and it was immediately obvious when she did that she was curled up in bed. "Hi," he whispered. "I didn't wake you, did I?"

Tin-Tin shook her head against her pillow. "I was just dozing. I fell asleep after we'd…um…after I spoke to you earlier and I didn't feel like going down for dinner so I've just sort of mooched around in here. I had a look through the boxes in the closet and got a couple of books out to read and I found this little guy." Tin-Tin reached beneath the bedcovers and held up a well-worn toy dog with black and white fur. "Is he yours?"

"Hey, you found Bipper," Alan exclaimed. "I often wondered what happened to him."

Tin-Tin curled her hand around the dog and cuddled him to her chest. "He's been keeping me company this afternoon, I hope you don't mind. It's very quiet without all of you here and I needed someone to…well, someone to talk to, if you know what I mean."

Alan nodded. "I understand and I don't mind. He can look after you while I'm not there and Peanut can have him once you're back home." Alan sighed softly. "I wish I could be there with you, Tin 'cos I'm not properly in the loop up here. I know you told me that the baby's okay but I don't know what the doctors said about you. Would they even let you go home at the moment?"

Tin-Tin gazed at Alan for a moment and then nodded. "Doctor Sumner says that I'm a picture of health and that he's very pleased with me." She stopped and giggled quietly. "The nurse who did the scan today was funny. She said that she doesn't know how I cope at home, surrounded by so much testosterone."

Alan grinned. "Yeah, I guess it can be a bit like that at times. You seem to cope though."

"It's pretty much all I've ever known so I don't really think about it." Tin-Tin leaned down, rubbed her nose against Bipper's head and sighed. "So to answer your question, yes I can fly, if I want to but what I want doesn't stand for much when Father says I've got to stay here."

Alan screwed his nose up at this. "I don't suppose you know if Dad's spoken to him today? John said that Dad was going to call him but I don't know if he's managed it yet."

Tin-Tin shrugged. "I don't know but I heard Father talking a while ago so he may have done. How is Mr Tracy coping with…everything?"

"I haven't spoken to him," Alan admitted. "Not since…um…not since before I came up here. John's spoken to him; he's spoken to him loads but he…he's always been good about keeping in touch." Alan sighed. "Dad knows that most of what he says to John will get through to me so he's sort of using John as a relay post and I guess I'm kind of doing the same back to him." Alan sighed again. "I should talk to him in person really but I just can't quite bring myself to make the call. It's not that I'm scared of him, I mean, it's Dad, that'd be stupid. It's more…not knowing if I'm going to get anger, fear, disappointment or just plain nothing at all. I know he wants to speak to me and I know he wants to apologise for the other day but it's just…it's just…" Alan threw his hands in the air in an exaggerated shrug. "Oh, I don't know, it's just weird."

Tin-Tin gave Alan a sad smile. "It's definitely that. Have you spoken to any of the others? Scott or Virgil maybe?"

Alan shook his head. "No. I don't know what to say to them. Scott's too much like Dad and I don't want to see the look on his face that says I've let him down. Virgil'll be pissed that I broke Dad's plane and Gordon…" Alan shuddered. "I know he's 'Gordy the Invincible' and that he'll try and laugh it off but…How can I face him knowing that I nearly killed him?"

"Gordon has a big heart," Tin-Tin replied softly. "…and an unfathomable ability to forgive. He doesn't hold grudges, will do anything for an easy life and, most importantly, he loves you. You didn't mean for…whatever it was, to happen. You didn't mean to almost kill him and he knows that. You're his only little brother, Alan and he's probably missing you like crazy."

A tear slid down Alan's face as he nodded. "I miss him too. Gordy and you…you're like the buffers between me, the big kids, Dad, Grandma and the whole outside world. If I want a hug I can get one, if I want to moan I can moan, if…if…" Alan struggled to think of another example and eventually plumped with, "…if I want to pitch an all-out childish hissy fit then I can and the pair of you will just roll with it. John's doing his best but I know I'm bugging him and I…I'm not explaining myself very well but you…both of you…I _need_ you."

Tin-Tin stroked the tip of one fingernail down Alan's face on her watch. "And we need you. Both of…" Tin-Tin looked at her stomach and giggled. "…the three of us need you. We need you to stay well and to look after yourself and to…to…to just be _you_. Don't ever change, Alan. Just be yourself and the three of us will love you forever."

Alan sniffed loudly and nodded. "I need to talk to Gordon. I'll call you tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay." Tin-Tin smiled sweetly at him. "Take care of yourself and I'll speak to you tomorrow."


	20. Chapter 20

~#~ (Chapter 20)

Gordon answered the ping on his watch almost immediately and greeted Alan with a cheery news broadcast. "This is Gordon Tracy of Tracy Island news. Breaking news just in, Tracy penal colony makes contact after unexplained silence. Subjects of Tracy Island breathe collective sigh of relief."

Alan's bark of laughter echoed around the cockpit of Thunderbird 4 where Gordon was sitting. "You're nuts. Well and truly, one hundred percent guaranteed, hazel-nutty goodness."

Gordon grinned, huffed on his hand and polished his knuckles against his shirt. "One does one's best, what with living in a family of overachievers and all." He typed a series of commands into Thunderbird 4's console and swapped Alan's feed from his watch onto the larger screen in front of him. "That's better. I can see you properly now." He gazed sadly at his brother for a moment and then sighed. "It's stupid. I'm on an island full of people but I'm lonely. When are you coming home?"

Alan shrugged. "I don't know. Whenever Dad says so, I guess; or whenever John gets fed up with me and decides to bring me down. I'm locked out of Thunderbird 3 at the moment 'cos they think I'm some sort of a flight risk."

Gordon raised an eyebrow at this. "And are you?"

Alan looked sheepish and glanced away from his watch. "Er...kind of. I mean, I can see why they'd think that but it's only when my mind and body go different ways…or rather, when my mind sort of goes off on its own and takes my body with it."

"Your mind goes off on its own and takes your body with it?" Gordon shook his head. "…and you call me nuts."

Alan shrugged. "Sorry. It's kind of the best way I can think to explain it. John stopped me when I tried to leave this afternoon and I know I'm locked in now so it's kind of a moot point now anyway. I can't go anywhere so I'm as stuck here as Tin-Tin is in Kansas."

"Well I had something to do with that so I guess I owe you an apology. Dad didn't give me any warning; he just sort of sent me on my way and I hadn't even had breakfast." Gordon hunched forwards in his seat and looked earnestly at his brother. "I'd have warned you if I could have but I didn't know anything even after I was on my way. Mind you, even after I'd been to Kansas, settled the Kyranos into the farmhouse and left them to it…even then, I didn't actually know what was going on. I've never seen Kyrano in such a weird mood. Never."

Alan shrugged again. "He's still in it now, by all accounts. He's giving Tin-Tin a hard time and it's getting her down. I spoke to her after lunch and he knocked on the door while we were talking. She told him to go away but then it all got on top of her and she got really upset. She's allowed to fly so, from a medical point of view, she's be able to go home but she can't because Kyrano won't let her. She got upset and I couldn't do anything to help her so I got upset and that's…that's when I discovered that my codes don't work the airlocks any more."

"I see." Gordon's reply was softly spoken but Alan heard it clearly in the quiet environment of Thunderbird 5. "I suppose, in the grand scheme of things, that seeing the mother of your firstborn child in a traumatised and fragile state is as good a reason as any for going completely off the rails."

Colour flushed into Alan's cheeks and he smiled self-consciously. "How did everyone take the news? Did Dad tell you all together? And what about Grandma? What did she think?"

"Grandma found out before anyone else," Gordon replied. "It sounds like she drew the short straw for taking coffees in to you and Dad. He had to tell her what was going on or she'd have never let him out of the office. Scott found out after breakfast the next morning after he took Dad to task about his…well…I suppose he was challenging Dad's whole attitude and persona from the day before. Dad told him what was going on and between them they told Virgil, Brains and myself. They didn't really explain themselves very well but I worked out what they were saying and I think Brains did as well. Virg though, he'd been busy thinking about…um…other things and he got his head in a right knot. He assumed the baby was Scott's and got uppity because Scott hadn't said anything to him before speaking to Dad. Scott sort of beat him up for suggesting it and then Virg knocked Scott over; Scott got up again, got Virg back up off the floor and then everything was fine."

A look of confusion passed across Alan's face and he shook his head. "Weird." He huffed quietly and looked at the floor. "The…um…'other thing' that Virgil was busy thinking about. That wouldn't be anything to do with a broken plane, would it? One that someone may have inadvertently knocked from the sky in the middle of the other night?"

Gordon raised an eyebrow at his brother. "You're not supposed to know about that. John told everyone to keep schtum about it so you didn't get even more upset than you already were." Gordon paused and then shrugged. "But seeing as how you already know about it; yeah, that's what Virg was thinking about. A little broken plane that someone whose mind was flying with his body along for the ride may have, however inadvertently, crashed."

Alan nodded. "I thought as much. It looked…um…close. On the CCTV, it looked very…close."

Gordon shuddered. "It scared the living crap out of me," he replied. "…I can tell you that for free. One minute I was flying along, minding my own business and having a nice little chat with Tracy 2. The next minute there was fire and brimstone raining down on me and the devil was trying to take me for his own. I kind of managed to land her but Virg had to drag her off the beach using Two and a couple of elevator cars 'cos the undercarriage didn't really survive. Dad took it surprisingly well though and didn't even yell. I was expecting to get a right roasting but I got a hug instead."

Alan sighed softly and looked troubled. "He doesn't like you getting hurt and it's not like any of it was your fault. I…I don't really know what I was thinking. I just…I was upset with you 'cos you'd taken Tin-Tin away, I couldn't talk to Tin 'cos she wasn't there so the only one left who understands me at all was John. I thought he could help and he has but now I'm stuck here…"

"Your reasoning was sound," Gordon murmured. "…but it sounds like your mind was running on overdrive and you just couldn't cope. You missed a few…er…vital points about leaving with Three and T2 paid the price. You didn't hurt me, Alan. You scared me and nigh on gave me a heart attack right there on the beach but you didn't actually hurt me. I'm no worse off than I was this time last week and I'm still here to tell the tale. Okay?"

Alan nodded slowly and gave Gordon a sheepish grin. "I am sorry though. However out of it I was, I still should have checked there wasn't anything nearby. Not that I'd ever expect to hit anything but in case there was anything out there that could have seen me."

Gordon shuffled forwards in his chair and looked thoughtful. "Maybe, once everything's calmed down and you're back home again, maybe you could suggest to Brains that he might want to create some sort of warning system for Three. Some big glowy light or some sort of alarm that says something like 'Object visible on sensors. Please advise.' It might not stop you taking her in the long run but it might just make you stop and think for a moment before you do anything…um….rash."

"Maybe," Alan sighed softly. "…but that'd kind of be saying that everyone'd be expecting me to go off and do something stupid again. All I want to do is be with Tin, Gords, it's not that complicated. If Dad hadn't tried to keep us apart then it would never have happened and if people stop trying to keep us apart then it won't happen again." Alan paused and then shrugged. "That doesn't sound right but you know what I'm trying to say. Hey, do you want to see the baby? Tin sent me a picture."

Gordon startled slightly at the sudden change in direction of the conversation but nodded anyway. "Uh, sure. Let me put you back on my watch…" Gordon lifted his arm and grinned at Alan. "Okay, you're back to being little again. Send the picture to Four so I can see it properly."

The screen on Gordon's watch went blank for a couple of seconds while Alan retrieved the picture and transmitted it down to Thunderbird 4, he then reconnected himself to Gordon who smiled broadly. "You made that, Al. That's way cool. You've gotta let me take him swimming when he's still tiny. Everyone's always said that babies can swim right from day one but I've never had the chance to see it for myself. I'll take good care of him. Honest I will."

Alan chuckled loudly. "I'm sure you will. You'll have to check with Tin-Tin but if she says it's okay then it's fine by me. He'll have to learn to swim if he's going to be safe on the island and if he's got to learn then he may as well be taught by the best. I can't imagine there's many babies with an Olympic champion as their own personal trainer."

"And he'll be trained in a proper, Olympic-sized pool." Gordon nodded proudly. "He'll be the best swimming baby around. Aw, man, it'll be awesome."

Alan chuckled again. "He won't be here for a while yet so don't get yourself too excited. He does look kind of cool though, doesn't he? I'm calling him Peanut for now, by the way. I was going to ask Tin if he had a proper name but I got side tracked with wanting to call you and forgot to ask her. John said that Peanut's okay for now but that we need to change it before he starts college or he'll get picked on."

Gordon looked at his brother as he tried to work out if Alan was being serious. "I don't know, it might be seen as trendy in the 2080's. Peanut Tracy. It's got quite a ring to it, don't you think?"

"No, I don't," Alan laughed. "…but it'll do for now until Tin-Tin tells me otherwise."

Gordon smiled. "What if she picks something weird? Or something you don't like?"

"I don't know," Alan shrugged. "I guess I'd have to say something but as long as it's nothing too…um…peculiar then I'll probably just let her run with it. It's not like I ever had any names picked out anyway. That's a girl thing, isn't it?"

"Kind of, I suppose." Gordon cocked his head to one side. "I always liked the name Abalone though. I always thought that if I ever had a daughter that I might like to call her that. It's…" He stopped and winced, "…pretty."

Alan let out a quiet chuff of laughter. "I like it. It's nautical and very 'you'." Alan paused for a moment, blinked hard and then yawned widely. "Ugh, sorry, Gords. It's been a…um…strange couple of days. I want to clear the air with Dad before I go to bed so I'm going to have to disappear in a minute."

Gordon nodded. "I understand but before you speak to him you need to know that Dad's quiet and not quite himself at the moment. He's mostly okay but he seems…um…tired, somehow; like he's got too much on his mind and the overload's making him work slightly slower than normal. Just try…try not to throw too much at him at once. I know he can usually take anything, anyone can chuck at him but I don't think he'll cope if he gets much more lumped on him at the moment."

Alan looked thoughtful. "I guess most of that is down to me. I know he wants to speak to me, he tried to apologise the other evening but I couldn't face him at the time. I didn't know what to say, how to act…what to do. I didn't want another confrontation then and I still don't want one now but I need to clear the air with him. I need there not to be this…black cloud hanging over us. I…I just want my Dad back." Alan quickly scrubbed away the tears that were making his eyes prickle. "Sorry. I just…I really want a hug right about now."

"Aw, hey, don't," Gordon murmured. "Not when you're so far away and I can't do anything to help. Call Dad, have a good old heart to heart, get everything squared up between the pair of you and then go and raid Johnny's sweet drawer. If he gets mad tell him I'll treat him the next time he's down here. I probably owe him already and a few more candy bars won't make a huge amount of difference."

"Heart to hearts and candy," Alan grumbled softly. "You make me sound like a girl. I…um…do you reckon I should send Dad the scan before I call him? To break the ice and kind of warn him that I might be about to call? I don't want to upset him but I _need_ to speak to him."

Gordon gave his brother a sad smile. "I know you do and yes, I think sending him the scan would be an excellent ice-breaker. The little guy is Dad's first grandchild and no matter how scared and screwed up he is at the moment, Dad's going to love him. The scan'll give you a way into what's bound to be an awkward conversation and as long as you stay calm then Dad should too. I'll head upstairs in a minute so I'll be nearby if you need me. Okay?"

Alan rubbed the base of his hands across both eyes, sniffed and then nodded. "Okay…and thanks. Thanks for the chat, for not judging me and for…just being yourself."

Gordon inclined his head towards his watch and sighed softly. "You're my only little brother and I miss you. Go and call Dad, stay calm, stay safe and…come home soon."

Gordon waited a couple of seconds for Alan to bid him a quiet 'goodnight' and then shut down the connection on his watch. He sat in silence for several minutes, staring at the screen showing Tin-Tin's ultrasound scan and then smiled. "You've upset the balance of the entire island and you're not even here yet. Dude, you are going to be _awesome_."


	21. Chapter 21

~#~ (Chapter 21)

Alan's attempt at staying calm failed abysmally.

He sent Jeff the scan picture and waited for several minutes before making contact. Jeff was watching the ocean from a recliner chair on his balcony and answered the call on the same personal view screen that he had been using to speak to John earlier in the day. He greeted his son with a soft smile and a quietly uttered 'Hello, Alan'.

Alan managed the briefest of nods in reply and then burst into tears. "I don't want to be here," he wailed. "I just want to come home. Please, please, let me come home."

Jeff looked at Alan in dismay and gently stroked his finger across the part of the screen showing Alan's face. "Alan," he murmured. "Alan, please. You don't need to get upset. If you calm down and look at me we can have a proper talk about all this. You're not a prisoner up there, you can come down any time you like, you just need to ask John and he'll bring you down."

Alan shook his head. "No," he croaked. "No, he won't. He won't bring me down. He can't. Thunderbird 5 needs to be manned. He can't leave it empty."

"He can and he will," Jeff replied softly. "I've already spoken to him and he's agreed to bring you down whenever you decide it's time to come back. Thunderbird 5 will be fine on automatic for a while, just like she is when the pair of you are down here for the holidays. The computer in Brains' lab will filter the incoming transmissions like it usually does when Five's empty and we can always improvise some sort of rota to monitor it if John chooses to stay down here for a while. There are ways around everything, Alan and you've got enough on your plate at the moment without worrying about Thunderbird 5."

Alan shrugged. "I have to worry about her," he whispered. "She's a big part of my life and she keeps me safe and warm and…um…aerated." Alan chuckled softly and then frowned. "Seriously though, what's going to happen with that in the future? Tin's not going to want me up here for weeks on end if she's down there with the baby and I'm going to miss out on seeing him growing up if I'm not down there. John can't stay up here indefinitely and apart from me and him no-one knows how to keep things running up here."

"I know and it's something that's still pending on my list of 'things to work out going forwards'. I certainly won't be sending you up there for long periods as it wouldn't be fair on you, Tin-Tin or the baby." Jeff smiled at his son. "Thank you for the picture, by the way. John mentioned that you'd been in touch with Tin-Tin and that she'd sent it to you."

Alan nodded. "We've been keeping an eye on her. So we can see that she's okay and…stuff. The doctors said that she's fine and that the baby looks good and healthy. Tin's heard his heartbeat too; she says it's fast."

"Oh they are, Alan, really fast," Jeff smiled as he looked back in his mind. "I remember watching Scott's heart fluttering away on the screen and wondering how such a tiny little heart could beat so fast. It's something I'll never forget."

"I didn't get to see it or hear it. I wasn't allowed to go or to support Tin-Tin or…anything." Alan looked away from his watch and blinked hard. "Sorry. It's just…"

Jeff tilted his head to one side and smiled sadly. "It's hard. I understand that and while I managed to accompany your mother to a few of her antenatal appointments I missed most of them so I do, at least partly, know what you're feeling. It's incredibly hard, being separated from the woman you love and the children you've borne together and that's exactly why you won't be spending week after week on Thunderbird 5. As I said before, I haven't worked out exactly what will happen in respect to covering Five but you won't be doing it."

Alan rubbed his eyes and looked back at his watch. "Thank you; and yes, it is hard. Harder than I could have imagined it to be." He paused and shook his head. "Not that I could possibly have dreamt up any of this mess. Nothing about it has turned out anything like I'd have planned."

"I don't supposed it has," Jeff replied. "Babies don't necessarily come along when you're ready for them to, your eldest brother is proof of that. They excel at upsetting the balance of the most well-ordered of lives and they cost a small fortune to raise but no matter how much chaos they cause, Alan, and no matter how much disturbance they create, they're so, so worth it. When that little person is handed to you for the first time…" He sighed softly. "It's not something I can truly put into words; it's amazing, mind-blowing, stupefying and terrifying, all wrapped into one. It never diminishes, never fades and no matter how many times you go through it that feeling is just as strong." The sparkle faded from Jeff's eyes, he let out a shuddery breath, cleared his throat and then rubbed his hands on his arms as if he'd received a sudden chill. "I…um…my turn to apologise, I guess. I'm trying to avoid thinking about…that…just after you..." Jeff shrugged helplessly. "You know."

Alan nodded slowly. "Do you want me to get Gordy for you? He said he'd be somewhere nearby…just in case this didn't go well. I'm not quite sure who he was going to be there for, you or me but he's there somewhere if you want him."

Jeff shook his head. "Leave him be. I'll track him down once we're done out here…unless we're already done? You've had a moment, I've had a moment and we've agreed you can come home whenever you want. I'm working on Kyrano for you but I'm not getting very far in that respect. It's going to take time and patience but he _will_ come round and when he does I'll send someone to bring both him and Tin-Tin home again. Okay?"

"Okay," Alan murmured. "…and Dad, thanks. I know this can't be easy for you and I know I'm probably not making it any easier being…um…me but I _am_ sorry. I'm sorry for upsetting you, for disappointing Kyrano, for stealing Three and I'm really, really sorry for crashing your plane. I know that John told everyone to keep quiet about it but I saw the plane on the monitors and worked it out for myself. I've apologised to Gordon already and now I've apologised to you. If there's anything I can do to…um…try and make amends...in some way..."

Jeff shook his head again. "Just staying safe and well would be amends enough for me. That and trying your absolute hardest not to do it again; I'm not sure my heart would survive another shock like that and I'd imagine Gordon may well feel the same."

Alan nodded. "He said something similar, yes. I…um…I think I'm done for now. I'm going to find John, see if he'll make me some cocoa and then I'm going to turn in for the night. If Tin's not there then there's not much point me coming down yet. I'll…um…I might play the next couple of days by ear…see what happens. Okay? I might be down tomorrow or…I might not. I don't know yet but I'm happier now I've spoken to you and that's…um…good. Do you get me?"

Jeff rolled his eyes at his son. "Strangely I do, seeing as how there wasn't a proper sentence at the end of all that. I get you and I understand. If you want to come tomorrow then come tomorrow. If you want to wait a few days then…do so, just…stay safe, stay in touch…oh, and try not to drive your brother completely out of his mind while you're up there."

Alan grinned at the smile Jeff gave him and nodded briefly before he closed down the connection. He flopped backwards on the bed, let out a deep cleansing breath and then lay still, looking at the ceiling while he replayed the evening's conversations in his head. Eventually, after several minutes, he shook his head, clambered from his bed and went off in search of John.

Jeff also remained stationary once Alan had cut the connection. He stared out at the ocean, breathing in deep, cleansing breaths of cool, salty air and when he felt completely calm he went off in search of Gordon.


	22. Chapter 22

~#~ (Chapter 22)

Alan stayed on Thunderbird 5 for another week and ended up flying Thunderbird 3 down to the island himself after John was hurt in an unfortunate accident.

The space-loving Tracy had taken the opportunity to give himself a rare evening off and left Alan monitoring Thunderbird 5's main systems. He made himself a mug of coffee and had climbed just over half way up the red anodised ladder leading into the astrodome when he caught the mug on one of the rungs, slopped hot coffee over his hand and then lost his grip on the drink.

The mug flipped over in mid-air and then dropped like a stone towards the floor below. John made a futile grab before it passed out of reach but failed to catch it and could only watch as the lavender-coloured drinking vessel destroyed itself against the hard metal floor at the base of the astrodome's access tube.

John shook his head and sighed softly. "Just one, quiet, uneventful night off. That's all I want. One night. Just…one. Damn it." He looked up towards the astrodome and then back towards the broken crockery and sighed again. "Down it is, I guess. Mop, bucket, here I come."

John was unaware that coffee had splattered the ladder on its journey towards the floor. The rungs directly below the astronaut were liberally coated with the liquid and as John began to climb down he placed his leading foot on a particularly slippery patch. Instinctively he reached out in an attempt to gain a firmer purchase on the ladder but a combination of coffee, anodised-metal and frustration got the better of him and he very quickly found himself heading towards the floor.

~#~

He hit the ground with a sickening thud and lay still, momentarily stunned by the fall. He took stock of his body, blinked hard and then sent a silent thanks to the heavens that he was still in one piece. This positive thinking lasted a further thirty seconds until John tried to push himself up off the floor and immediately found himself wracked with excruciating pain.

He let out a howl as his left arm buckled beneath him and he collapsed back to the floor, breathing heavily. Using his right hand he tentatively pushed himself into a sitting position and then sat, cradling his left arm gently against his chest. "Damn that hurts."

~#~

John sat at the bottom of the ladder for several more minutes before he finally risked moving again. He inched his right hand slowly and carefully up his left arm and tapped the button on his watch which would connect him to Alan.

"Hi John." Alan's cheery reply sounded loud in the corridor where John was sitting. "How are the stars looking this evening?"

John let out a short chuff of laughter and then immediately regretted it when the movement jarred his arm. "I'm sure they're looking just fine but I can't confirm that personally. I encountered a…um…a problem and I'm going to need you to come and help me."

It was obvious to John that Alan hadn't looked at his watch prior to that moment because the younger brother suddenly gave out a confused 'huh?' followed by "Um, John, what am I looking at?"

"I'm not sure," John replied. "I can't tell from here but I'd guess it's either my chin, chest or maybe a part of the wall. Whatever it is it's all you're going to get 'cos I'm not moving until you get here. Please, Al, just get here."

Alan frowned to himself. "Okay. Hold your horses a second." Alan brought up the screen showing Thunderbird 5 and located John's lilac-coloured spot. "I'm on my way."

~#~

Alan's years in International Rescue had prepared him well and he pulled the first aid kit from the wall by the door, strode from the room and headed towards his brother. He rounded the corner into the corridor where John was sitting and broke into a run when he spotted him on the floor. "What happened?"

John turned pain-filled eyes towards Alan and grimaced. "I fell," he replied. "…from about half way up. I wasn't concentrating as well as I should have been."

Alan squatted on the floor beside his brother and glanced upwards. "Crap. That's a fair drop, John. What have you hurt? Apart from the obvious, of course."

"Just my arm," John told him. "…or my shoulder. Or…maybe both, I don't know."

"Oh," Alan murmured. "That kind of wasn't what I meant by obvious. I…I meant your face. Look." Alan reached out a finger and gently pressed it against John's cheek. He pressed another against John's temple and then held both blood-coated fingertips out to show his brother. "You're a right mess."

John rolled his eyes and groaned. "Well that's just…fantastic." He looked at the floor around him and sighed. "You're going to have to check for foreign obj…oh jeez, that stings."

"Sorry." Alan pulled the antiseptic wipe back off the gash on John's cheek and winced when the blood was immediately replaced with a fresh trickle. "This one's nasty but it looks clean. I can't see any coffee or mug or…anything that's not supposed to be there." Alan held the wipe against John's face with one hand while he rifled through the first aid kit with the other. "Look over here a minute so I can stick it shut."

John did what he'd been asked and sat quietly while Alan steri-stripped the gash on his cheek. He closed his eyes when Alan began to investigate the cut on his temple and resisted the urge to swear when his brother was forced to use a set of medical tweezers to remove a sliver of earthenware that he found there.

"Sorry," Alan whispered again. "I'm being as gentle as I can but I need to make sure there isn't any more in here."

John gave the tiniest of nods and sighed softly. "I know. You just keep doing what you're doing and ignore my grumblings. I'm just another rescue case at the moment and you know how they can get."

Alan smiled softly as he stuck the last steri-strip in place and then set about cleaning the remaining blood from John's face. "You could never be 'just another rescue case', John and as strange as it might sound I'm glad I'm up here with you."

John cracked open one eye and stared at him. "Says the guy who's spent the last week and a half griping, complaining and eating me out of house and…er...space station."

Alan flushed red and looked at the floor. "Yeah, I know I've been a pain," he murmured. "It's just…what I meant was that I'm glad I was here today…when you did…" Alan waved at John, the broken crockery and the corridor in general. "…this. If I hadn't been then we'd have had to scramble from down there and you'd have been waiting for ages for someone to come and help you."

"I know," John replied. "…and I'm glad you were here as well. I wouldn't fancy sitting here on my own willing Thunderbird 3 to fly just that little bit faster." He sighed loudly. "This should never have happened."

"It was just a stupid accident, that's all." Alan told him. "…unless you planned to throw your coffee on the floor and roll around in it?"

John rolled his eyes at his brother. "No, I can categorically state that I had no intention of doing such a thing. The coffee had one purpose and one purpose only, which was to be drunk; and no, before you ask, I didn't even get a sip of it. It was too hot and it decided it'd rather kill itself than cool down…that's throbbing like stink, before you start poking at it."

Alan had shuffled over to John's left shoulder and was staring at it with a distasteful look on his face. He had refrained from touching it but was fairly sure that it would hurt John, a lot, once he did. "It's definitely out," he said softly. "…and it's kind of swelling up. I can't see properly past your shirt but I'd say it was more than just your shoulder."

"Yeah," John agreed. "I reckon you might be right. Damn it, I like this shirt."

Alan pursed his lips together and nodded slowly. "I'll get the scissors."

~#~

Alan carefully cut along the seams of John's shirt and gently pulled away the brown and white plaid fabric. Despite Alan moving as slowly and cautiously as possible he still jostled his brother slightly and by the time he was left in just his undershirt, John was drenched in a cold sweat and shaking badly.

Alan wrapped a foil blanket around his brother and leaned forward to pull him into a gentle hug. "Are you sure you want me to try and get it back in? If just getting rid of the shirt hurt that much?"

John nodded against his neck. "It won't hurt so much if you get it back in and once you've done it you can hit me with a heavy duty dose of something strong and then take me home and deliver me to Virgil. Agreed?"

Alan lifted his arm behind John's back and glanced at his watch. "Agreed but you're going to let me at least get some muscle relaxant into you before I try it. I'm not as practiced at it as Virgil and I'm not as strong as Scott and the last thing I want to do is make things worse."

"I have faith in you," John replied softly. "Get it done then we can go home."

Alan rubbed John's back and then gently pushed him upright. "Stay up there while I find you some drugs, okay?" Alan kept a wary eye on his brother as he rifled through the first aid kit and pulled out a vial of Diazepam. He held it up so John could see. "Agreed?"

John nodded and turned his head away so as not to watch Alan setting up the injection.

Alan filled the syringe and squeezed the plunger slightly to flush out any air bubbles. He cleaned a small patch of John's good arm with a wipe and carefully injected the drug into the muscle in his brother's bicep. That done, he capped the syringe, dropped it into a small pouch in the side of the first aid kit and then sat on the floor beside John while he waited for the drug to take effect.

~#~

Alan sat beside his brother for almost ten minutes. John was quiet and had slumped sideways against him so Alan reached out and gently patted his arm. "Hey. You awake over there?"

John let out a soft sigh and nodded. "Guilty as charged. Currently stuck though and won't get moving unless you give me a shove."

Alan carefully pushed him upright and held him in place when he began to sway. "Well the drugs seem to be working and you're definitely relaxed. Are you ready to try this?"

John slowly unpeeled the fingers of his right hand from around his left arm and cradled it gently. "Do it."

Alan took hold of John's damaged arm and very slowly brought the forearm towards his body. John grimaced as his brother began to rotate the arm in a clockwise direction and then yelled loudly when something crunched in his upper arm.

Alan froze and he stared at John who had his eyes screwed tightly shut. "I knew this wasn't a good idea. What do I do now? John, what do I do?"

John let out a shudder, cracked open his eyes and and reached out to pat Alan's arm. "Not…your fault," he breathed. "Something…broken. Virg'll fix it. Try again. Ignore…" John swallowed deeply before continuing. "…that."

Alan looked doubtful but repeated the manoeuvre on John's arm. He supported the upper arm as much as he was able and tried his hardest to ignore the uneven, crunchy feeling the movement created. John clamped his eyes shut and his teeth together as Alan manipulated his arm and then let out an agonising, pain-filled howl when it reached the point when the socket should have reconnected, only to have it fail to do so.

He let out a shuddery, pain-filled gasp and slumped against his brother who wrapped his arms around him. "I'm sorry," Alan croaked. "It's not working. It's just…it's not working and I'm hurting you."

John hung limply in Alan's arms, breathing heavily. "Told…before. Not…your…fault. Broken. Need Virg."

Alan clung to his brother and sniffed loudly before lifting his arm and jabbing the buttons on his watch. "Dad," he cried. "Dad, please answer."


	23. Chapter 23

~#~ (Chapter 23)

Jeff, Ruth, Scott, Virgil and Gordon were sitting at the dinner table talking when Alan's distraught call came through. Jeff had taken to carrying his personal view screen with him at all times and he immediately connected it to Alan's watch. "I'm here, Alan. Whatever's the matter? What's happened?"

"John's hurt," Alan croaked. "He…he fell and he's hurt and his shoulder's out and I can't get it back in. I need to bring him down and I need Virgil but it's dark and I'm locked out of Thunderbird 3." John mumbled something from his spot against Alan's chest and Alan shrugged. "Okay, the Thunderbird 3 issue…isn't an issue but everything else applies. We need to come down and we need to come now."

Jeff nodded. "Then come. Switch Five to automatic, put your brother into Thunderbird 3 and bring him home. Scott, I want a flight plan. Gordon, go and find Brains. Virgil…Alan, can you tell Virgil exactly what happened to John so he can get things prepared for when you arrive."

Alan hugged John tightly. "He fell. From about half way up the ladder to the astrodome. Kind of face first...or rather arm first, straight onto the floor. His face was all cut...nasty, deep cuts which I've fixed…and he's going to have one hell of a black eye. His left shoulder's totally out of its socket, his arm's swelled up and there's something crunchy…um…broken inside it. I've given him a shot of Diazepam and I made sure it had time to work but I can't…and I've tried _really_ hard but I can't get his arm to go back in."

Virgil nodded to himself. "Al, is he awake? Can I talk to him a minute?"

Alan adjusted his grip on John and gently pushed him into a more upright position. John hissed softly at the disturbance and then smiled gratefully when Alan wrapped the space blanket back around him and then unbuckled his watch and held it securely in front of them both. "Virg. Hi."

"Hey, John," Virgil replied softly. "How are you feeling?"

John huffed softly. "Like I picked a fight with Thunderbird 5…and lost. Alan's patched me up the best he can but my shoulder's out and Al can't get it to go back in."

Virgil nodded. "I'll get it back in and I'll fix whatever you've broken in there while I'm at it. It'll be easier once you're down here but I'm a little dubious about the idea of you coming down with it out. It's going to hurt, a lot, no matter how well strapped it is and regardless of how carefully Alan flies. There's no way to stop Thunderbird 3 shuddering during re-entry so you're going to get jostled, bumped and shaken." Virgil paused and scratched his head. "If I was there I'd opt for strapping you in, knocking you out and waking you up again when it's all over."

John looked across at Alan who shook his head. "Not going to happen, Virgil. Not a chance. I'll give him some more muscle relaxant and I'll dose him up with painkillers but I will _not_ be knocking him out. There's too much chance of something going wrong and I can't monitor him and fly Thunderbird 3 at the same time. I'm not doing it. No way."

John reached out of the blanket and patted Alan's arm. "It was only a suggestion. Something that Virgil would do if he was here. _If_ he was here, Al, but he's not, okay? He's not here so I'll be staying awake." John peered at the watch and raised an eyebrow at Virgil. "Agreed?"

Virgil raised his own eyebrow in response. "It's up to you and no matter what you decide, I'll be waiting when you land and I'll fix you. I promise."

"Thank you." John nodded gently. "…and for future reference, Virg, if you feel the need to knock me out for medical reasons, at _any_ point, then please feel free."

~#~

Scott walked back into the room with a laptop under his arm. "There are a couple of no-go time windows over the next few hours, Father but we're mostly clear until about 0530 when the mail plane will be in the vicinity. I've uploaded the details direct to Thunderbird 3 and they're here when you need them. How's John?"

"Better than he'll be by the time he gets down here," Virgil grumbled. "He knows he'd be better off coming down unconscious but he's going to do it awake to stop Alan feeling bad. That wasn't my imagination, was it, Father? John did agree with me?"

Jeff nodded. "He did and I got the impression he was asking you to knock him out if he's still awake when he gets back here later on. He's in pain already and knows it'll be worse after he's been through re-entry and landing. Just be prepared, Virgil…for anything."

~#~

Alan measured out a dose of painkiller, injected it into John's arm and then helped his brother to shuffle backwards so he could lean against the wall. "Will you be alright here while I go and automate everything?" he asked softly. "I'll be as quick as I can then we can go home and Virg can fix you up. Okay?"

John nodded tiredly and one-handedly pulled at the space blanket. "Help me with this before you go. I've got coffee soaked into my pants and I'm getting chilly."

Alan wrapped the blanket around his brother and gave him a gentle hug. "I'll be as quick as I can. Just sit there and don't try to move."

~#~

Alan hurried around Thunderbird 5, shutting down the non-essential systems and diverting the incoming feeds down to Brains' lab on Tracy Island. He paid a brief trip to the bedrooms to collect John's computer, threw the dirty washing into a bag and then, as an afterthought pulled the blanket from John's bed, carried it with him and dumped it with everything else he'd gathered at the air lock.

Once he was sure he had everything together Alan punched John's code into the airlock and breathed a sigh of relief when it whirred into life. "Don't worry," he murmured as he stepped aboard Thunderbird 3. "I'm not stealing you today. This is a mercy mission for a wounded spaceman and I'd like as smooth a journey as possible please." He smiled to himself as he carried everything further into the ship and stowed it all safely away.

~#~

"Hey. Are you awake?" Alan squatted in front of his brother and gently tapped his face. "Come on, John, it's time to go home."

John slowly opened his eyes and looked around. "You done?"

"Everything's either switched over, off or onto automatic," Alan replied. "Apart from this corridor, the elevator and the run down to the air lock. I grabbed your computer, your personal bag and your shaving kit and I've packed them all in Three. Anything I've missed will have to wait until one of us comes back up here." He fished a sling out of the first aid kit and held it up where John could easily see it. "I need to put this on you. I reckon it's going to hurt but hopefully not as much as it would have done before I gave you that last shot."

John rolled his eyes at his brother. "Thanks…I think."

Alan wrapped the sling around John's arm and secured it above his good shoulder. John hissed at him and grumbled a little but generally remained quiet and placid. Alan helped him to his feet and walked him a short way down the corridor where he propped him against the wall, facing back the way they'd come. He then hurried back down to where John had fallen, gathered up the various first aid detritus that was strewn around the floor and quickly mopped up the worst of the coffee and broken mug. He deposited the waste in one of the disposal chutes, hooked the first aid kit over his shoulder and headed back to take John home.

~#~

Alan pressed his brother gently into the co-pilot's chair and looked dubiously at the safety harness. "This isn't going to go on right with your arm like that."

John looked down at his wounded limb. "No choice. I need the sling and I need the straps. Just…" He paused and swallowed hard. "…just do it."

Alan nodded and carefully strapped John into the seat with his arm held tightly beneath the straps. He whispered a quiet apology for jostling him and then tucked the blanket from his bed around him. "I know it's not cold but you said you were damp and I thought it might make the journey a little more comfortable."

John sighed softly and settled against the back of the seat. "Thank you. For the blanket and everything else you've done today. I'm glad you were here, Al. I mean that. Really I do."

Alan nodded gently. "Me too. I'd rather you hadn't got hurt in the first place and I'm sorry I couldn't fix your shoulder but I'm glad I was here to at least try and help. Now, shall we go home?"

~#~

John gritted his teeth as Alan powered up Thunderbird 3's engines and disengaged from Thunderbird 5. Alan then angled the rocket away from the space station and pulled smoothly away.

John seemed to be coping well at first and Alan was just beginning to think that Virgil's misgivings about the journey were unfounded when Thunderbird 3 entered the upper atmosphere.

John let out a groan as he felt his seat tremble. Brains had designed the huge red rocket to be as comfortable and stable as possible but turbulence during re-entry was inevitable. Alan and John had long since given up worrying about any shuddering or vibration felt upon re-entering the atmosphere, knowing in their hearts that the ship was as safe as it was possible to make it.

John groaned again as the shuddering increased. Alan glanced over at him with worry in his eyes. "Hang on, we'll be through the worst of it soon."

John ground his teeth together and nodded. "Can't…aaah…can't come fast enough."

Alan winced at John's obvious discomfort. "Virgil's waiting for us. Just keep remembering that. Virg is down there and he's…he's got really good drugs."

John let out a strangled chuff of laughter and clamped his eyes tightly shut. Alan turned back to the control panel and concentrated on keeping Thunderbird 3 safely on course.

~#~

John did his best to stay quiet so as not to upset Alan but the vibrations in the ship seemed to collect in his shoulder and by the time Alan swung Thunderbird 3 around to make the final approach to Tracy Island the pain was more than he could bear. Three let out an almighty great shudder when her booster rockets kicked in and John finally put voice to his pain and screamed.

Despite having part of his attention diverted by his brother suddenly passing out beside him, Alan made a picture perfect landing in Three's silo. He quickly shut everything down and then ripped off his safety harness so he could escape from his seat.

He squatted beside John and rested a finger against his neck. He let out a relieved sigh when he found a strong pulse and then dropped his head to his chest as he allowed himself a moment to calm down after the fraught landing.

~#~

Virgil rested a hand on Alan's shoulder and squeezed him gently. "Hey. Wakey wakey, Little One. Alan? You okay?"

Alan shook himself and looked up at him. "Virg. You're here…I…" Alan spotted his eldest brother standing in the doorway. "Oh, hi Scott. He made it most of the way down but the boosters kicking in for landing finished him off."

"Not unexpected," Virgil grumbled. "Shift out of the way and let me look at him." He gently nudged Alan in the direction of the door and crouched beside John. He rested a hand on John's forehead, checked his eyes, the cuts on his face and the pulse in his neck and then dug John's left hand out of both the blanket and sling and took the pulse there too.

"You did good, Alan," he announced. "He's stable, warm and secure. All in all, not a bad result."

Alan looked doubtful. "He's unconscious, his arm's not connected and when he wakes up he's still going to be in pain. He…I…can you fix him?"

"I can and I will," Virgil replied with a gentle smile at John. "…and you don't need to worry, he won't be in pain when he wakes up. I'm going to keep him out until I've fixed him and he'll be dosed up with the best stuff I have before I even think about waking him."

Scott wrapped an arm around Alan's shoulders. "Dad, Gordy and Grandma are on the gantry. Go and tell them what's going on while Virg and I get John moved. We'll head straight for the sick room, Brains is waiting for us there."

Alan looked sadly at John and nodded. "Okay. I'll guess I'll get everyone to meet you there. John doesn't need an audience while he's carried through the house."

Scott patted his shoulder and nodded. "No, he doesn't." Alan made no attempt to move so Scott nudged him. "You've done your bit here, Al. Go and find Dad and leave me and Virg to sort out the spaceman. We need to get him moved, settled and drugged before he thinks about waking up." He looked across at Virgil. "At least I assume that's the plan?"

Virgil nodded. "It is. Go on, Al, we'll look after him. I promise."

~#~

After a last look at John, Alan finally left Thunderbird 3. He wandered across to where Jeff, Gordon and Ruth were waiting and stepped into his father's outstretched arms.

Jeff hugged him tightly. "Welcome home, son. That landing was superb."

"Thank you," Alan replied softly. "…but it wasn't smooth enough for John. He's out cold and Virgil's going to keep him that way. Scott says we're to meet them in the sick room."

Jeff patted Alan's hair and sighed. "Does he really? Well Brains should have everything ready by now so I suppose it makes sense to head that way. Gordon, take Grandma's arm until we're back on solid ground. Alan, you're with me."

Ruth tutted loudly as Gordon held out his hand and bowed. "I'm perfectly capable of walking on my own, you know?"

Gordon feigned hurt and held his hand out again. "Do you want me to fall and hurt myself? I fell out of the sky last week, Grandma and if I can do that I can certainly fall off this rickety old tin shelf here."

"A likely story." Ruth rolled her eyes at him. "For pity's sake, Gordon, give me your hand or we're going to be standing here forever."

Gordon hooked his arm through his grandmother's and looked back to wink at Jeff who had his arm around Alan's shoulders.

Jeff winked back with a twinkle in his eye. He had all his boys back in one place. One, slightly damaged and worse for wear but all on the island none-the-less. All he needed now was to get the Kyranos back where they belonged and everything would be right again…for a while at least.


	24. Chapter 24

~#~ (Chapter 24)

Virgil was true to his word and kept John unconscious until long after he'd rebuilt his shoulder and set the broken bone at the top of his left arm. He gradually reduced the sedatives in his brother's system the next morning and by lunchtime John was showing signs of stirring.

John opened his eyes, blinked hard and then coughed softly. "Vir…"

Virgil jumped to his feet and threw the book he'd been reading onto the bed. He smiled at his brother, picked up a glass of water and helped John to take a sip. "Better?"

"Much," John nodded. "Thanks." He looked down at his well-strapped arm and gingerly wiggled his fingers. "Am I fixed?"

Virgil nodded. "You are. You'd done a good job messing it up in there but everything's back where it belongs now. You're going to be out of action for a while and I'm banning you from Five until I'm happy that your arm is properly knitted back together. I know the brace is going to be a pain but the humerus is a big, strong bone and the last thing you need is any sort of weakness in it."

John nodded gently and glanced around the room. "You seem to be on your lonesome in here. Where's everyone else?"

"Gordon was here," Virgil replied softly. "…not long before you woke up. He went to check whether Father needed any help. The others, Scott, Alan and Brains, that is, are evacuating an oil rig somewhere near Mexico. It's been hit by some sort of freak storm and is likely to sink before anyone else can get near it. The plan is to empty the rig, ferry the crew back to dry land and fly home." Virgil glanced at his watch. "They've only been out about fifty minutes so they'll be a while yet."

John nodded again and looked out of the window behind his brother. "What day is it? We came home in the dark and it looks about lunchtime-ish now. How much time have I lost?"

"Not much." Virgil held his watch out for John to see. "You came down last night. You passed out at some point and I kept you out while I put you back together. I haven't said anything to Alan but I opened, cleaned out and redressed the gashes on your face. What he'd done was fine but it wasn't as tidy as I'd've liked and I figured you'd rather not spoil your looks with the ugly great scars that his patch-job would have left."

John smiled. "You figured right and I thank you for that along with patching up my shoulder, my arm and hitting me with…whatever it is you've hit me with that's stopping anything hurting. Whatever it is, it's goooood."

Virgil grinned. "I made Alan a promise that I'd fix you and that I wouldn't let you wake up in pain. He was upset that you'd passed out while he was looking after you and he was loath to hand you over to Scott and myself until I promised we'd look after you. He didn't want to go out on the rescue at first for the same reason but then Gordon offered to go instead and it all got a bit weird." Virgil scratched his head and shrugged. "Alan decided that he'd changed his mind and did actually want to go. Father sent him on his way before he could change his mind again and Gordon ended up back down here with me. I know why Father keeps Gordon here but I really think he made the wrong call on this one. It's basically a collection and delivery mission, pretty much a milk run and something that Gords could have done with minimal chance of getting hurt. He'd have come away happy, healthy and feeling like a proper part of the team."

"Alan and myself had a similar conversation not that long ago," John told him. "…about how Father treats Gordon differently to the rest of us. It all got a bit emotional so it probably stuck in Ala...watch it, someone's coming."

~#~

Gordon bounded through the door and immediately noticed that John was awake. "Smashed up Spaceman," he cried. "Man, it's good to see you back in the land of the living. You gave us a right fright last night." Gordon pointed at the ceiling. "You're supposed to be safe up there. You know that, right?"

"I know." John reached out his uninjured arm and squeezed Gordon's hand. "Nothing can stop accidents though and that's all this was; a stupid accident."

Gordon shrugged and sat down on John's bed, roughly level with his knees. "Anyway, I came to tell you that it's all going okay in Mexico. Brains doesn't reckon the rig's as unstable as they're making out but we're still getting everyone off it, just in case. About half the crew are off so far and Scott reckons the rest'll be off in less than half an hour; oh, and he said to tell you that Alan'll be flying home." Gordon tapped his finger against his bottom lip. "Yeah, I think that was everything. Grandma's cooking pie for you, John. Pumpkin and apple, I think." Gordon chuckled. "As in A pumpkin pie and AN apple pie. Not a pumpkin and apple pie. That'd be…yuk."

John nodded his agreement to Gordon and glanced at Virgil who was staring at Gordon with an odd look on his face. John turned back to Gordon, smiled and shook his head. "You're a cruel man, Gordon Tracy. Very cruel."

~#~

The three brothers remained in the sick room together for another twenty minutes after which Gordon wandered back into the house to get an update on the rescue situation. Virgil helped John get out of bed, across the room and into the bathroom and then waited just outside the door in case John got into difficulties.

John stepped slowly out of the bathroom with a puzzled look on his face. "What happened to my leg?"

"Didn't I mention that?" Virgil asked. "There was a big sliver of crockery stuck in your thigh and your pant leg was pretty much soaked in blood when I changed you. You've got a couple of stitches in there to stop the bleeding so the bandage is only really there to keep everything clean and to stop you fiddling with it."

John let out a quiet chuff of laughter. "There's not much chance of that with only one working arm. That coffee really had it in for me."

"It certainly did," Virgil agreed. "But the only permanent damage it caused was to the mug which was holding it. You're a bit bruised and battered but you're up, on your feet and supporting your own weight. All in all, I'd say that's not bad."

John nodded. "…and I might even get to finish the last few chapters of my book. I've had the data for weeks, it just need collating, summarising and proofing then I can send it to the printers."

"Sounds good to me. Give yourself a couple of days to recuperate first though, eh?" Virgil motioned towards the door of the sick room. "Just to humour me, if nothing else?"

~#~

John insisted on moving back into his own room that evening so that his brothers would also sleep in their own beds. It was usual to find at least three of them sleeping in the sick room if one of them was laid up in there and John wanted to make sure they rested properly after the rescue.

He spent the next couple of days parked on the couch in the main lounge and had several long, drawn out and very silly conversations with Tin-Tin who was becoming increasingly bored and lonely in Kansas.

On the fourth day he managed to have a short talk with an emotional Kyrano who was also beginning to struggle with being away from the island and his adopted family. John was thoughtful and quiet when he closed down the call to Kyrano and he remained so until Gordon dragged him outside to sit by the pool.

~#~

International Rescue were called out a couple of days after John's conversation with Kyrano.

An electrical short had caused a fire in the new, state of the art, underground shopping mall in Rochester, Minneapolis. The mall's fire protection systems had confined the blaze to the lower five levels and most of the visitors had been evacuated but pockets of people had become trapped at various points around the site and their oxygen was fast running out.

Alan had chosen that morning to practice his climbing skills and was almost half way up the extinct volcano that made up the island when the call came through so Jeff sent Thunderbirds One and Two out, crewed by Scott, Virgil, Brains and Gordon. Alan grumbled loudly at not being chosen until John quietly asked him exactly how Virgil was supposed to stop, pick him off the mountain and still have enough time to rescue the people in the mall.

Alan admitted defeat at this and cut John off in order to concentrate on his climbing.

~#~

Jeff monitored the situation from his desk and smiled when John appeared beside him with a cup of coffee. "You're supposed to be resting."

John gave him a one armed shrug. "It's just coffee. It's not much but it's something I can do to be helpful."

"You're injured, John," Jeff replied softly. "You don't _need_ to do anything but you can keep me company in here if you want."

John nodded and stepped around the desk to get a chair. Jeff shook his head as his stubborn son waved away his offer of help and dragged the chair across the floor one handed. He watched as John positioned the chair close behind the desk and put his hand out to support him as he sat down. "I know you're getting frustrated but it's only been a week, John. You need to give yourself a break, let your body heal; just…rest."

John looked sadly down at his arm. "I can't get comfortable. This…" he nodded at the shoulder brace. "…gets in the way so I can't lie down properly. I'm not sleeping well so I can't concentrate on what I'm doing, my book isn't getting written and I'm just…not being productive."

"That's exactly my point." Jeff shook his head again. "You don't need to be productive. You need to rest so your arm and shoulder can recover."

John gave another lop-sided shrug and settled gently against the back of the chair. "I know that, it's just…difficult. Everyone's buzzing around and doing things and I can't join in. Gordon's been sitting with me but it's not fair on him if I take up too much of his time." John sighed. "Don't mind me, I'm just feeling sorry for myself."

Jeff smiled sadly. "I understand. Now, let me run an idea past you while there's no-one else about."

Jeff explained that he had spoken to Kyrano at great length the night before and that the quietly spoken Malaysian had expressed his wish to return to the island. He didn't want to put the Tracy's out by having one of them fly to Kansas specifically to collect him and Tin-Tin but had no other way of getting back home due to the island not being on, or particularly near, any commercial flight path.

"You're going to suggest that Virgil meets them somewhere once he's finished in Rochester, aren't you?" John asked. "Have you told Alan?"

Jeff shook his head. "No and I'm not going to until everyone's on their way back here. I don't want him getting all excited only to be let down if something doesn't go to plan. I'll speak to Kyrano first so he can start packing and once everything's complete in Minneapolis I'll tell Virgil to head for the canyon. It'll mean that the jeep'll probably end up here but I'd imagine there's going to be a fair bit of toing and froing to the farm for the next couple of months so that might not be a bad thing."

'The canyon' was located just over half an hours' drive from the Tracy homestead on land that Jeff had purchased specifically because it contained natural caves and canyons suitable for hiding the ships. One of the caverns had been expanded to fit Thunderbird 2's huge bulk inside it, another smaller one had been cleared out for Thunderbird 1 and all the entrances were heavily disguised so that they couldn't be seen from either the ground or from above. They had proved useful on several occasions when the weather over Tracy Island had deteriorated to the point that landing would have been virtually impossible and the proximity to the farm meant that Scott could take Thunderbird 1 with him when he took a break in Kansas.


	25. Chapter 25

~#~ (Chapter 25)

Alan wandered in about twenty minutes later. He was sweaty, grimy and only stayed in the lounge long enough to check that everyone was okay. "I'm going to have a shower and a lie down. Give me a shout when munchies are served so I can come and join you."

Jeff and John both nodded and then watched as Alan wandered away. "Well that works out well," John murmured. "If he's not going to come out until after everyone's back then we don't need to worry about him getting wind of what's going on."

Jeff chuckled. "I was thinking something similar myself. I think we'll keep him in the dark for as long as possible and then maybe arrange for him to cross paths with Tin-Tin somewhere in the house once she's back. Your brothers will no doubt be in high spirits if everything goes to plan so I'm sure they won't mind their munchies being a little delayed by the reunion.

~#~

Jeff spoke to Kyrano and then once the rescue was completed he spoke to Scott, Virgil and an infuriatingly ebullient Gordon who was bouncing around Thunderbird 2's cabin like a kid on a candy high. The knowledge that Tin-Tin was finally going home and that Jeff was going to trick Alan into running into her didn't help calm the red-head's mood and Jeff ended up apologising to Virgil for what looked to be a lively, and possibly frustrating, journey home.

~#~

Scott flew Thunderbird 1 high over the canyon and checked that the area was free of any unwanted sightseers. Once he was sure the area was clear he signalled that Virgil could land and waited, concealed in the clouds until Two was down and safely hidden.

One's engines had barely finished powering down when Scott clambered out and scrambled across to where Thunderbird 2 was standing. Virgil had extended her legs and lowered the pod door so that Kyrano could drive the jeep directly inside. He stepped onto the ramp and handed Scott a mug of coffee as he approached. "I'm going to shut Gordon in here," he announced. "…or I'm going to end up killing him before we get home. He's driving me nuts."

Scott took a sip of his coffee and let out an appreciative sigh. "He's just excited 'cos he's finally getting his little team back together. Let him travel home with Tin-Tin and I guarantee you won't hear a peep out of him the whole way back."

~#~

Tin-Tin and Kyrano drove into the canyon a little over half an hour later. Scott walked out to meet them and climbed into the back of the jeep to direct Kyrano into the cavern where Thunderbird 2 was waiting.

Virgil was standing just inside the pod and waved as Kyrano drove onto the bottom of the ramp. He held his hand out towards the far right hand side of the pod and then lowered it to warn Kyrano to take it slowly.

Once the jeep was in place, Virgil and Scott set about securing it to the floor of the pod. Gordon appeared a second later and wrapped himself around Tin-Tin who squealed loudly. "Yes, yes, I've missed you too. Don't squeeze me to hard, Gordon, I do need to breathe."

Gordon buried his face against Tin-Tin's neck as she hugged him back. She smiled at Kyrano and nodded. "Time to go home."

~#~

Virgil rolled Thunderbird 2 into place on Tracy Island and shut everything down. He hadn't heard a sound from Gordon the entire journey and as Brains had fallen asleep not long after they'd left Kansas he'd had a peaceful trip back. "Father," he called quietly over the radio. "Father, we're back. Where do you want everybody?"

"Virg," John answered in place of his father. "He's on his way down to you. Give him a moment and he'll be there."

Virgil peered out of the window and watched as the door to the gantry swung open and Jeff stepped out. He gave Virgil a wave and started down the steps towards the floor. Virgil crouched beside Brains and shook him awake. "We're home. Dad's on his way to meet us and I'm going to rouse the others. It's very quiet back there so I'd guess they've slept most of the way back as well."

Brains nodded and unbuckled himself from the seat. "I-I'm going to s-shower. T-tell the other's I'll s-see them later."

Virgil patted his shoulder and smiled. "You did well today. I know you don't particularly like going out but…you did well. I'll see you later."

~#~

Virgil stepped through the door to the living quarters and stopped dead at the sight that greeted him. Gordon and Tin-Tin were curled together on one of the single bunks, fast asleep. Gordon had his arms wrapped tightly around Tin-Tin's waist and his face was barely visible against her chest. She had her arms around his shoulders and her cheek was resting so closely against the top of his head that her gentle breaths were disturbing his hair.

Kyrano, who was sitting in a comfy chair, smiled at the expression on Virgil's face. "Master Gordon was unwilling to relinquish his hold on my daughter," he explained. "I know she has missed him greatly but it seems that he has possibly missed her more. I think it would be prudent to wake them before your father or Master Alan arrive."

Virgil snorted. "Yeah, I'm not sure Alan would appreciate Gordon being quite that…close." He crouched down beside the sleeping pair and gently patted Tin-Tin's shoulder. "Time to wake up, Honey. Journey's over, we're home."

Tin-Tin opened her eyes and looked blearily up at him. "Home?"

Virgil nodded. "We landed a couple of minutes ago. You got yourself kind of…tangled up with Gordon while you slept and it looks like might need a hand to get yourself free."

Tin-Tin looked down at Gordon, giggled and then slapped him gently on the back of his head. "Wakey wakey, sleepyhead. Time to get up."

Gordon grumbled in his sleep and buried his face deeper against Tin-Tin's chest. She gave his head another tap and then put her lips up against his ear. "We're back on the island, Gordon. Wake up. Now."

Gordon opened his eyes and flushed red when he realised the position he was lying in. He carefully released himself from Tin-Tin and, with a little help from Virgil, sat up beside her. "Sorry, I guess I was…tired. Sorry for…" he waved his hand in the vague direction of Tin-Tin's chest. "…that as well. I…don't know what happened."

Tin-Tin shook her head and smiled at him. "Me neither. Virgil, where did my father go?"

"He heard someone open the access hatch to the pod and went down to meet them in case it was Alan," Virgil replied. "We thought it best if he didn't walk in on the pair of you all cuddled up like that."

Gordon glanced across at Tin-Tin and smiled sheepishly. "He's missed you, Tin. We all have but he's really, _really_ missed you and you'll be lucky if he lets you out of his sight before the baby's born."

"And that's quite fine by me." Tin-Tin reached over, pulled Gordon into a gentle hug and kissed his cheek. "Thank you for caring, Gordon…and for looking after me today. I don't know how…that happened any more than you do but I felt safe, secure and loved."

Both Gordon and Virgil nodded at Tin-Tin's heartfelt words. Virgil clambered to his feet, held his hand out to pull Gordon off the bed and then stood back as Tin-Tin swung her feet off the bed and stood up. "I don't know where we're going but head out of the pod and see if you can see Dad. He knows what's going on in regards to Alan."

~#~

Jeff and Kyrano were standing beside Thunderbird 2 talking quietly when Virgil, Tin-Tin and Gordon stepped out. Jeff gave Tin-Tin an appraising look, smiled softly and then stepped forwards and gave her a gentle hug. "Welcome home," he murmured. "Grandma's upstairs getting some food together. She wanted to come and greet you but the thought of having all six boys clamouring for their lunch made her change her mind. She said to tell you that she'd greet you properly tonight, once everything's calmed down again."

Tin-Tin nodded. "I understand." She rested her hand on Jeff's arm and looked nervous. "Mr Tracy, where is Alan?"

Jeff smiled softly and glanced at Kyrano who nodded in reply. "He's in his room. John's keeping watch on him. You'll see him soon enough, don't you worry. We've just got a…little surprise planned for him first."

~#~

Tin-Tin, Kyrano, Jeff, Virgil and Gordon took the elevator up into the house. Jeff urged Tin-Tin to sit on one of the sofas, sent Gordon and Virgil into the kitchen and then nudged Kyrano in the direction of his office where John was waiting.

"He hasn't moved," John murmured as they stepped into the room. "Kyrano, hi. Welcome back."

Kyrano bowed his head in acknowledgement of the greeting. "It is good to be back, Master John. The farm is very homely but it is not home. It is too…quiet."

Jeff chuckled. "I'll bet it was with just the two of you rattling around the place." He patted Kyrano on the shoulder. "Come on, old friend, let's get this done."

~#~

Jeff took a final look at the cream spot on the computer and leaned over to flick a switch. "Alan," he said sternly. "My office. Now." He waited until the cream dot to start moving and then switched the screen off. "There's little enough privacy in this house as it is without us watching their every move. Kyrano, we may be here a while. Would you join us for a coffee?"

~#~

Alan slunk through the door at the far side of the lounge, took several steps across the floor and stopped. He sniffed the air, cocked his head to one side and took another couple of hesitant steps towards the centre of the room before stopping again.

Tin-Tin slowly climbed to her feet and turned to face him. "Alan."

Alan let out a cry and launched himself towards her. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her against his chest as they both burst into tears. "You're back," Alan croaked. "How…when…how are you back?"

Tin-Tin pushed herself gently away from his chest and reached up to run her fingers through his hair. "We hitched a ride in Thunderbird 2. We've only been back a couple of minutes. Your father wanted to surprise you."

Alan leaned forward, rested his lips against Tin-Tin's forehead and kissed her gently. "He succeeded." He slid his lips down her cheek and buried his face in her neck. "God, I've missed you."

"Me too. So, so much." Tin-Tin rubbed her cheek against the side of his head and let out a quiet sob. "I…I…Don't let them send me away again."

Alan pulled himself upright and gently cradled Tin-Tin's face between his hands. "You're not going anywhere; at least not on your own. If you need to go for tests or…anything then I'm coming with you. They are NOT splitting us up again. You got that?"

A tear trickled down Tin-Tin's face as Alan leant forward to kiss her. She buried her fingers in his hair and deepened the kiss for a moment before remembering where they were. "Everyone's waiting for us," she squeaked. "Alan, they're probably watching."

Alan glanced around the room. "No, they're not," he replied softly. "The doors are shut and the camera's off." He dragged Tin-Tin across the room and waved his hand in front of the camera. "See?"

Tin-Tin's reply was simply to press herself tightly against him and seal her lips against his in a burning, fiery kiss which he returned with every ounce of passion in his body. He sunk against the desk and supported Tin-Tin's weight against him as he poured his love into the blistering kiss and then stood with his arms wrapped around her once the pair were forced apart by the need to breathe.


	26. Chapter 26

~#~ (Chapter 26)

The next few months passed peacefully on Tracy Island. Tin-Tin moved out of the Kyrano's cabin into Alan's room in the main villa. The youngest Tracy boy quietly rearranged his living quarters to be more family-orientated and devoted large amounts of time to simply making sure that Tin-Tin was happy, healthy and comfortable. He flew her to Kansas for her monthly pre-natal check-ups and arranged for her to have a 4D scan which revealed that Peanut was indeed a boy.

John's arm healed well and with Virgil's help he regained the full range of movement in his shoulder. Despite being back up to full health he was reluctant to go back up to Thunderbird 5 and rigged up a computer in the corner of Jeff's office so he could monitor the incoming transmissions from the space station. The system worked well and through experimentation Brains and John worked out that they received messages only twenty three seconds later than they would have done had John been sat up in Thunderbird 5.

Jeff was enjoying having all the boys with him on the island and readily agreed that John could stay 'down' for as long as he wanted.

The Tracy patriarch took the opportunity to test out different crew configurations and sent John on several rescues while Alan was away with Tin-Tin. Gordon pitched a fit when he realised that he'd been almost completely grounded but then surprised himself, and everyone else, when he discovered he had a talent for coordinating the rescues using John's computer.

~#~

The family settled back into a routine over the next month. John remained planet-side and eventually admitted to Jeff that he would rather stay that way permanently. Jeff agreed with him and suggested that John and Alan maybe needed a trip up to Thunderbird 5 to collect the bulk of their personal belongings that had been left up there.

~#~

It was arranged that Alan and John would spend a couple of days aboard Thunderbird 5 a few weeks later. They would carry out some calibrations that Brains had asked for and then pack everything up properly before heading home.

Tin-Tin was tearful when Alan told her that he would be going up to the space station. "I won't be gone long. I promise." He wrapped his arms around Tin-Tin and cradled her gently against his chest. "Gordon and Grandma'll keep you company while I'm away and once I'm back I'll take you over to the mainland so we can start properly getting ready for the baby. He's more than half grown now and he's going to need somewhere to eat and sleep and do…other things. Ask Grandma to help you make a list of what we need to get and see if she has any ideas where to get it all from as well."

Tin-Tin sniffed loudly and then nodded. "Yes, she'd like that. I'll ask her." She giggled softly. "Poor Gordon. He's not going to want to look at baby stuff all day."

"He'll throw himself in the pool if he gets bored," Alan chuckled. "…and it's not like you'll be shopping _all_ day…will you?"

Tin-Tin giggled again. "It might be fun to try but…no. If they were real shops, maybe but online shops…not so much so, I can't imagine anything more mind numbing."

Alan snuggled her closely and kissed her hair. "You work out where you want to go and I'll take you there when I come back. We could pay a visit to Penelope as well, if you want. She was saying the other day that she'd love to see you."

~#~

Alan and John completed the calibrations on Thunderbird 5 and packed most of their personal items into Thunderbird 3 before travelling home. Alan took Tin-Tin to Penelope's the next day and the three of them, plus Parker, spent several days buying everything that Peanut was going need for his first few months of life. Penny insisted on buying the crib that Tin-Tin had picked out along with several cute but highly impractical-looking outfits and everything else went on Alan's credit card. Jeff paid off the boys cards on a monthly basis and had given Alan carte blanche to spend whatever he needed to in order to get the villa ready for Peanut's arrival.

Just before they were due to leave, Parker presented the couple with a box containing a hand-made mobile decorated with the various ships and vehicles that made up International Rescue. The uppermost part was Thunderbird 5 and below it hung thunderbirds 1, 2, 3, the Firefly, the Mole and something small and red that Alan guessed may be supposed to represent the Domo. Thunderbird 4 dangled below everything else, hanging from a thread which hung from the base of Thunderbird 2 and Alan laughed delightedly when he realised that the little yellow submarine was surrounded by tiny fish. "It's brilliant, Parker. Thank you. Peanut's going to love it."

"It's beautiful." Tin-Tin hugged the butler tightly. "Thank you, both of you, for everything. The last few days have been fun." She released Parker and snuggled herself against Alan. "We'll let you know when we get home. Alan, is everything packed?"

Alan nodded. "It's all gone in. We'd better not buy much in New York though or we won't get Mirabel off the ground to get home again."

~#~

Alan landed Mirabel at JFK International Airport and drove Tin-Tin to their hotel. Tin-Tin was shattered by the time they arrived and put herself to bed almost as soon as they checked in. She slept straight through to the next morning and woke to find herself securely enveloped in Alan's arms. Alan was fast asleep and had such a peaceful expression on his face that she was reluctant to disturb him and lay quietly in his arms for several minutes.

Eventually the pressing need to empty her bladder became too great and Tin-Tin gently kissed Alan awake. He woke slowly and leaned into the kiss before opening his eyes and smiling dopily. "Good morning. Are you feeling better?"

Tin-Tin rubbed her cheek against the side of his face and sighed. "I'm fine, I was just super-tired yesterday. It was like the journey took way more out of me than normal."

Alan squeezed his hand between them and rested it on Tin-Tin's stomach. "Maybe coming here wasn't such a good idea. Maybe we'd have been better just going home. It's…I just…" He sighed softly. "We never get any time alone."

Tin-Tin placed her hand on his and smiled sadly. "I know we don't but it's better than it used to be. We've got some sort of privacy once we're shut in our rooms and no-one questioned us about coming out here alone. Did they?"

"No," Alan shook his head. "No-one queried it but Dad can track us at all times so I suppose he thinks we can't get into too much trouble." He gently rubbed her stomach and then snuggled against her. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine." Tin-Tin revelled in the closeness for a moment and then groaned. "…and as nice as this is I really need to get up for a minute."

Alan followed her gaze towards the bathroom door and nodded. "Fair enough." He untangled the bedsheets from around them and held them up so Tin-Tin could slip out. "I'll get breakfast ordered while you're in there."

~#~

Alan organised breakfast and made a couple of phone calls while he was waiting for it to arrive. He was halfway dressed when it finally appeared and Tin-Tin laughed loudly as she stepped out of the bathroom to find him hopping towards the door while trying to pull on one of his socks.

"I'll get it," she murmured. "You finish getting dressed before you hurt yourself."

Tin-Tin unloaded the breakfast trolley onto the table and poured Alan a mug of hot, strong coffee. She filled a glass of orange juice and then rifled through her bag and pulled out her antenatal medication. "I don't get why they make these things so big," she grumbled as she tipped the tablets out onto her side plate. "That one particularly." She jabbed her finger at a large, elliptical-shaped yellow, tablet. "I mean, look at it."

Alan walked up behind her, wrapped his arms around her and kissed her cheek. "You've done great so far and it won't be long before this little one arrives." He stroked Tin-Tin's stomach and cuddled himself closer against her. "We're over half way there, Tin. Just a few more months and you won't need them any more."

Tin-Tin sighed softly and rubbed her cheek against his. "And then everything will change again. There'll be three of us rather than just two and we'll never get _any_ time alone."

Alan didn't know how to answer that so settled on shrugging. This seemed to be good enough for Tin-Tin who sighed again and then picked up the big yellow tablet, popped it into her mouth and washed it down with a sip of orange juice.

~#~

After breakfast Alan took Tin-Tin's hand and the couple took a slow walk down towards the shops. Tin-Tin bought several cute baby outfits in a couple of different stores and Alan treated her to a very expensive lunch in a pleasant but surprisingly quiet restaurant.

When they had finished eating Tin-Tin excused herself and went off to find the bathroom. Alan watched her go and quickly pulled out his phone to make a call.

Tin-Tin returned to the table and smiled softly when she noticed that Alan had paid the bill and tipped the waiter while she'd been gone. She kissed his cheek and then nodded when he suggested that they might want to head back to the hotel.

~#~

The concierge nodded at Alan as he ushered Tin-Tin through the main doors of the hotel. Tin-Tin gave him a puzzled look for a moment but then Alan steered her into the elevator and pressed the button for their floor and she thought nothing more about it.

Alan began to fidget as they approached their room and he clung to Tin-Tin's hand as he pushed the door open.

Tin-Tin stepped inside to find the room in semi-darkness. The drapes had been pulled across the window and the room was lit by numerous tiny candles which flickered merrily from every available flat surface. Alan nudged her further inside so he could close the door and then remained behind her as she made her way towards the table which had been pulled into the middle of the room.

Tin-Tin stopped by the table and glanced around the room with a soft smile on her face. "You arranged all this?"

Alan nodded. "It wasn't quite what I had planned but you were so tired last night that I sort of…improvised."

Tin-Tin turned back to the table which had been covered with a delicate ivory-coloured cloth. Three tall vases filled with red roses spanned the middle of the table and created a floral backdrop for a large bottle of champagne and two crystal flutes. A ruby red napkin sat in front of the glasses on a small, white plate and on top of this rested a deep blue, velvet-covered ring box.

"Oh." Tin-Tin gasped quietly as her eyes fell on the box. She reached behind herself and for Alan's hand and squeezed it tightly. "Really?"

Alan nodded and then realised that Tin-Tin couldn't see him as she was still staring at the table. "I always promised I'd get you a proper ring one day and even though it's probably sooner than we'd planned it feels…right."

Tin-Tin nodded this time and pressed her right hand gently against her stomach. "Yes. Yes it does." She pulled Alan forwards as she moved to sit down on the chair beside the table. "Are you...um…?" She blushed deeply and waved her hand at the ring box. "Would you…?"

It was Alan's turn to blush as he worked out what Tin-Tin was failing to ask him. "You want me to do the whole bended knee thing?" he asked quietly and gently squeezed Tin-Tin's hand where she was clinging to him. "I can do that but you're going to have to let me go first."

Tin-Tin lifted his hand to her lips, kissed it and then slowly released her grip on it. She watched silently as Alan lifted the ring box off the plate and took several paces across the room. The young man looked nervous as he turned back to approach her and then dropped gently to one knee directly in front of her. "Tin-Tin Kyrano," he murmured as he opened the box and held it out. "I have loved you since I was five years old. You've been with me through thick and thin, you've put up with my tantrums, my mood swings and my brothers and now you're carrying my son. I love you more than life itself and would lay mine down for you in an instant. Would you do me the honour of becoming my wife?"

Twin tears trickled down Tin-Tin's face as she leaned forwards and sealed her lips against his in an emotionally-charged kiss. She pulled back slightly and nodded. "Yes. Yes, and a hundred times yes. I would be honoured to be your wife."

Alan carefully removed the ring from its satin bed and gently pushed it onto Tin-Tin's finger alongside the promise ring. He then leaned up for another kiss and rested his hand on her stomach. Peanut wriggled beneath his touch and Alan let out a chuckle. "I think he approves."


	27. Chapter 27

~#~ (Chapter 27)

Preparing the villa for Peanut's arrival became a real family affair over the next couple of months. Virgil, Scott and John knocked through the back wall of Alan's room into the storeroom behind and converted it into a nursery. Virgil and Scott decorated the room while Alan, John and Gordon put the furniture together, Tin-Tin and Ruth made drapes, cushions and soft furnishings to complement the neutral colour scheme and when everything was done Jeff hung Parker's mobile in pride of place above the crib.

Alan stood in the centre of the room hugging Tin-Tin tightly. "Thank you…all of you. It looks great and I'm sure Peanut's going to love it."

Alan had long-since given up trying to get Tin-Tin to tell him what Peanut's 'real' name was going to be and the whole household had taken to calling him Peanut despite the fact he was now significantly bigger than one. Tin-Tin's bump was huge in relation to her slim frame and the baby seemed to be constantly on the move. Jeff, to everyone's surprise, had coped well with having a heavily pregnant woman in close proximity to himself and had remained calm and stable despite everyone's earlier worries that he would break down like he had when Peanut's existence had first been discovered.

~#~

Tin-Tin had another of her antenatal appointments a couple of weeks after the nursery was completed. Alan flew her to Kansas and the pair stayed at the farm overnight as they had taken to doing on days when Tin-Tin needed to visit the hospital. Jeff had all but given up the idea of sending Alan out on rescues again and the remaining four boys, plus Brains, had fallen into a routine among themselves as to who looked after which craft and when. Gordon had resigned himself to being almost entirely island-based with the exception of rescues that required Thunderbird 4 when he would swap places with John who had taken to seconding with Virgil in Two. If Four was required then John remained on the island manning the computer while Gordon carried out whatever underwater rescue was required.

Kelly, the head obstetrician who had been looking after Tin-Tin since her first visit to the hospital, weighed Tin-Tin, measured her abdomen and gently palpated Peanut's bump to identify how he was lying. She frowned slightly and pressed her fingers more firmly just below Tin-Tin's ribs and again above her pelvis. Tin-Tin looked worriedly up at Alan and clung to his hand. "Is everything okay?"

Kelly tucked Tin-Tin's top back into place and perched on the edge of the bed. "I'm concerned that he hasn't turned yet. There's still time for him to do so but we normally like them to be head down by this stage. There's no reason to worry at the moment but I would like to see you again next week and maybe weekly from then on until either he turns or we deliver him."

"You deliver him?" Tin-Tin asked. "As in…caesarean?"

The obstetrician nodded. "If he hasn't turned then yes but hopefully it won't come to that. All being well he'll decide to head downwards on his own accord and you'll be able to deliver him naturally. If not, and he doesn't turn, then we'll have to step in and give him a hand out. I don't want you to worry, either of you. If he turns then good. If he doesn't then we deal with it. Either way, we're going to be keeping a close eye on you. Okay?"

Tin-Tin sighed deeply and Peanut kicked out at her. She rested her hand on him and smiled. "You behave, you little trouble maker. Behave and…turn round."

~#~

Alan and Tin-Tin remained at the farm rather than risk flying back to the island. The couple travelled back and forth to the hospital for check-ups and despite Tin-Tin's best efforts to persuade him to turn over, Peanut failed to do so. Eventually, at just over thirty seven weeks of gestation, Kelly decided it would be safest to deliver Peanut by caesarean before he had the chance to try and come naturally while still being the wrong way around.

~#~

The appointment was made for the beginning of the following week meaning that Peanut would be born at thirty eight weeks rather than forty. This, Kelly explained, was still classed as full-term and that Peanut would be only fractionally smaller than he might have been if he'd 'continued cooking' for another couple of weeks.

Jeff made arrangements to fly himself and Kyrano out to the farm to meet Alan so that they could offer their support while Tin-Tin was in surgery. Scott immediately gathered Virgil, John and Gordon around him and explained that he also needed to leave the island so that he could stave off the breakdown he was certain Jeff would have once the Tracy patriarch realised exactly where Tin-Tin was giving birth.

~#~

Jeff gave the boys strict instructions to behave themselves and set off with Kyrano in Tracy 2. Scott gave them a head start and then boarded Thunderbird 1 and headed for the canyon.

Due to the excessive speed that Thunderbird 1 was capable of, Scott beat Tracy 2 to Kansas. He was able to collect the pick-up truck from Thunderbird 2's cavern, drive to the farm, give Tin-Tin and Alan a hug and finally sat on the front stoop and waited for his father and Kyrano to arrive.

~#~

Jeff drove slowly up the farm's long gravel drive, came to a halt behind the pickup and climbed out. "I believe I left you in charge of the island," he grumbled light-heartedly. "So what are you doing here?"

Scott grinned and handed him a pair of mugs and a flask of coffee. "I'm here as back-up," he explained. "Just in case. I left Grandma in charge at home. I figured she'd looked after the kids in the past so…why not."

Jeff poured himself a drink and handed the flask to Kyrano. "So, where are…ah, there you are." Jeff handed his mug to Scott as he pulled Tin-Tin and Alan into a three-way hug. "How's our boy today?"

Tin-Tin rubbed her stomach and smiled. "He's still happily upside down. Alan thinks it means he'll be following you two into space when he's bigger but I'm sure he's just being awkward." She batted her eyelids at Alan and grinned. "Like his father." She waited for Jeff to release her so he could take his coffee back from Scott and then moved to give Kyrano a hug. "Thank you for coming, both of you. It means a lot."

~#~

Jeff treated everyone to dinner at a nearby restaurant and they remained there, talking quietly until Tin-Tin began to tire. Alan took her back to the farm in the car they'd been using for the last few weeks and Scott, Jeff and Kyrano followed a few minutes later in Jeff's truck.

Tin-Tin had a wash, got herself ready for bed and then wrapped herself in Alan's dressing gown and wandered downstairs to say goodnight to everyone before retiring for the night.

Alan stayed downstairs with Jeff, Scott and Kyrano to give her time to settle and then snuck into the room and snuggled up against her.

~#~

Tin-Tin had been told not to eat anything prior to arriving at the hospital in case she ended up needing a general anaesthetic so Jeff, Scott and Kyrano got up early the next morning and had a quick breakfast before she got out of bed.

Alan got up slightly later than the other three and wandered downstairs into a seemingly empty house. He meandered around aimlessly for a couple of minutes and then headed outside where he found the three men drinking coffee on the front stoop. He waved away the mug that Jeff held out to him and pressed his hand against his stomach. "Butterflies," he grumbled. "Lots of big, scary, vomit-inducing butterflies so unless you want to see the coffee again…no."

"Today's a big day." Jeff raised his eyebrows at his son. "So I think your nerves are justified. How is Tin-Tin feeling?"

Alan shrugged. "She's got a bit of every emotion under the sun going on this morning. She's scared but excited as well. She wants to go to the hospital so we can finally meet Peanut in person but at the same time she doesn't want to go in case something goes wrong. While he's…um…inside her he's safe from the outside world and cushioned from…well…everything else. Nothing can happen to him in there but he can't stay put so he's going to have to come out." Alan shook his head and slumped down on the swing-seat beside Jeff. "Sorry, I'm rambling. Tin's basically okay but she's nervous and hungry and isn't allowed breakfast. She was going to give me a ten minute head start in case I wanted to eat anything so I guess she'll be down in a couple more minutes."

~#~

Tin-Tin appeared five minutes later wearing a pair of comfortable linen trousers and a long sleeved pink flowy top. She pushed open the door, stepped onto the stoop and smiled when Alan immediately jumped to his feet. "Have you eaten?"

Alan shook his head. "Couldn't face it. Didn't drink either so I'm as empty as you are." He wrapped his arms around her and kissed the end of her nose which made her giggle. "Did you pack the last bits into your bag? I want to put it in the car so I don't have to think about it later on."

Tin-Tin nodded. "It's by the bedroom door. Everything's packed and ready to go. Do you want me to come with you?"

Alan pulled her closer and chuckled. "I'll be fine. You just stay put and…think happy thoughts."

~#~

Alan put Tin-Tin's bag on the back seat of the car along with one of Tin-Tin's lightweight jackets in case she needed it when she was finally released from the hospital. He patted his pocket to make sure that a small blue box which had been delivered the previous day was still safe. He then stood up, gave a heavy sigh and headed back into the house.

~#~

Alan and Tin-Tin arrived at the hospital almost forty five minutes before their appointment and several hours before the caesarean itself was due to take place. Alan parked the car and the pair wandered slowly into the hospital garden to pass some time.

Alan gently pushed Tin-Tin down onto one of the benches in the quiet, flower-filled garden. He sat beside her and gripped her hand. "This is nice," he murmured. "Why haven't we come here before?"

Tin-Tin shrugged. "I'm not sure. I came here with my father when you…" she looked sadly at Alan and rested her head on his shoulder. "…when you were with John. It's peaceful and calming and I…needed that when I was here the first time. A bit like now."

Alan rubbed his cheek against her hair and hummed softly. "It's kind of big and scary isn't it? To think that we'll have a little person totally dependent on us in just a couple of hours' time. Scary but…cool."

Tin-Tin smiled and rested her free hand on her stomach. "Our own little space man." She sighed, held up the hand that Alan was holding and wiggled her ring finger. "Would you take them off for me? And then put them back on again…afterwards? I know it probably sounds silly but you put them on and no-one else has the right to touch them…ever."

"It's not silly," Alan murmured. "…it's sweet and I knew you were worried about them getting lost so I…" He wriggled around until he could pull the box out of his pocket one-handed and then passed it to Tin-Tin. "…came up with a solution."

Tin-Tin stared at the box for a moment before opening it. "Oh, Alan, it's lovely. Thank you."

Alan let go of her hand so she could remove the charm bracelet from the box. She held it up into the light and smiled as the sunlight glimmered on the chunky platinum links that made up the chain. "I thought you could thread the bracelet through the rings to keep them safe," Alan said softly. "I got the first charm put on it for you as well."

Tin-Tin ran the links through her hand until she reached the charm. "Is that us?" she asked quietly as she gazed at the diamond-studded infinity symbol. "Forever?"

"Forever," Alan repeated, just as quietly. "Forever and ever and ever and…" Alan's 'evers' were brought to an abrupt stop when Tin-Tin leant forwards and kissed him. He sunk his fingers into her hair and poured all his emotions into returning the kiss. "I love you, Tin."


	28. Chapter 28

~#~ (Chapter 28)

Once Tin-Tin's bracelet, rings and necklace were safely zipped into his inside pocket, Alan escorted her into the hospital. The pair were shown to a private room and over the next hour Tin-Tin was given a variety of medications to take, had an IV port fitted to her left hand and had blood taken so it could be analysed prior to her going into the operating theatre.

A nurse knocked on the door fifteen minutes before they were due to go downstairs and handed Tin-Tin a set of disposable pyjamas, some stiff white socks and a surgical cap to put on. She gave Alan a gown, surgical cap and shoe covers and explained that he would need to wear them until he left the OR. "Also, Mr Tracy, your brother wanted me to let you know that he's in the waiting room if you need him. He says he'll relay messages to both your fathers as and when required."

Alan helped Tin-Tin into the bathroom and put on his own protective clothing while she got changed. He turned towards the door as Tin-Tin pushed it open and the pair looked at each other in their paper clothes and laughed. "At least it's not just me," Tin-Tin giggled. "Although you don't have these lovely things." She pulled one of her pyjama legs up to show Alan the tight, white socks. "I bet you're jealous."

~#~

The nurse popped her head around the door again ten minutes later and nodded when she saw that the couple were waiting. "They're ready for you downstairs," she murmured. "I have a porter here ready to take you down. Mr Tracy, don't forget your shoe covers."

Alan held up his left and waved the covers at her. "I have them. Is Scott still outside?"

The nurse nodded. "He is. You'll pass him on your way downstairs and you'll be able to have a very brief word with him if you wish."

~#~

To Tin-Tin's surprise she was taken downstairs in her bed. The porter raised its head to make it more comfortable for her and then simply pushed the whole thing out of the door and down the corridor towards the elevator.

They paused at the waiting room door and whistled to Scott who immediately jumped to his feet and stepped out to greet them. "Father tried to get here," Scott told them. "I mean he _really_ tried but he just couldn't do it. He got through the door, past Reception and then sort of hit a barrier, started shaking and couldn't get any further. Kyrano's taken him outside and apart from apologising continuously he seems fine now. They both send their love."

Tin-Tin glanced at Alan who nodded. "We always knew he might not be able to make it." He rested his hand on Tin-Tin's shoulder. "I'm sorry you couldn't see Kyrano before you went downstairs."

Tin-Tin patted his hand. "Father and I spoke before we left the farm. He guessed that Mr Tracy would need his help more than I would and he wondered if they might end up in the garden rather than the waiting room."

"That's exactly where they've gone," Scott replied and then nodded when the porter gave a quiet cough. "I guess it's time for you to go." He leant down and placed a gentle kiss on Tin-Tin's cheek and then patted Alan on the shoulder. "I'll see the three of you in about an hour."

~#~

Everything went smoothly in the operating theatre and Peanut was delivered safe and well. His head was covered in thick, black hair and Kelly held him up to show Alan and Tin-Tin as soon as he was born. She then handed him to the midwife, Suzi, so she could clean him up.

Suzi rubbed him briskly with a soft towel and then carried him over to Tin-Tin and laid him on her chest. She made sure he was secure before stepping aside so that Alan and Tin-Tin could finally meet their son.

"Oh, Alan, he's beautiful," Tin-Tin squeaked. "…and so small. Look at his little fingers and…Oh, hello darling." Peanut had opened his eyes and was staring directly at his mother. "Aren't you the most gorgeous thing ever?" She carefully reached out her right hand and gently ran the back of one finger down his cheek. "Alan, he's so soft. Touch him."

Alan gingerly mimicked Tin-Tin's previous move and stroked the side of Peanut's face. "He's ours, Tin," he whispered reverently. "We've got our own little person and he. Is. Awesome."

Tin-Tin nuzzled her nose against Peanut's forehead and smiled when his face scrunched up. "He certainly is." She rested her hand on Peanut's back and sighed. "Awesome Adam."

"Adam?" Alan repeated. "Is that what we're calling him?"

Tin-Tin nodded. "Is that okay?"

Alan leant forwards and placed a gentle kiss on her lips. "I love it. Adam, son of Alan. First of the newest generation of the Tracy family." He stopped and thought for a moment. "If we have a girl next are we going to call her Eve?"

Tin-Tin awkwardly reached up and cuffed his head. "I need to get over this…" She waved at the blue cotton screen across her stomach that the doctors were still working behind. "…before you're allowed to even start thinking about doing it again, and besides, I thought Tracys didn't throw girls."

"I guess we'll just have to wait and see if that's true or not." Alan shrugged and ran his fingers through his hair where Tin-Tin had messed it up. "Are you feeling up to a photo? I need to send this little guy to everyone."

Tin-Tin smiled and leant forwards to gently kiss Adam's head. "I've got no make-up, no jewellery and I'm wearing a paper shower cap. It's just as well he's cute because I'm sure I look awful."

Alan waited for Tin-Tin to lay her head back down and kissed her soundly. "You look fine to me, and bearing in mind what's still being done back there…" He waved at the screen in the same way that Tin-Tin had done before. "…I'd say you look amazing and anyone who says otherwise will have me and my brothers to answer to."

Tin-Tin grinned and leaned her cheek against Adam's hair so Alan could take his first photograph. He took several more of Tin-Tin with the baby and then some of just Adam and some of just Tin-Tin. Suzi took the camera from him and took a couple of pictures of the three of them together and Alan picked the best one to send to Scott, Jeff, Kyrano and everyone back on the island.

~#~

Kelly signalled that she was almost finished behind the screen so Suzi stepped forwards again and explained that she needed to get Adam weighed and then wrapped up in preparation for going back upstairs. "I'll just be over there," she pointed towards the workstation to Tin-Tin's right. "You'll be able to see him the whole time and Daddy can come with me, if he wants to." She raised her eyebrows in a questioning manner. "Either way, I won't keep him away long."

Alan looked worriedly between Adam and Tin-Tin. "What do you want me to do?"

A single tear rolled down Tin-Tin's face and she sniffed softly. "Go with Adam but…be quick."

Alan gently wiped the tear away with his thumb. "Don't cry," he whispered. "We won't be long and when we come back you can cuddle him for the rest of the day if you want to. Deal?"

Tin-Tin let out a breathy sigh and nodded. She stroked her hand down Adam's back and gently brushed his cheek with her fingertips. "Be good for Daddy," she whispered. "…and hurry back to me." She sniffed again and blinked hard as she fought not to cry. "Alan, take him please or I'm not going to let him go."

Suzi handed Alan a soft, warm blanket and helped him to safely transfer Adam from Tin-Tin's chest, into the blanket and then up into his arms. Alan bent down and held him level with Tin-Tin's face so she could see he was safe. "We won't be long."

~#~

Adam objected strenuously to being unwrapped from the blanket so that Suzi could weigh him. He squealed piteously from the moment his back touched the plastic scales and he continued to wail the whole time he was being diapered and dressed. He was still squealing when Suzi lifted him from the changing mat to wrap him in a clean blanket and only stopped when he was finally placed back into Alan's arms.

Alan smiled as Adam's dark blue eyes stared up at him. "I can't say I blame you," he whispered. "It didn't look like fun to me either." He glanced up to see that the room was considerably emptier than it had been and that the screen had been removed from across Tin-Tin's stomach. The head of her bed had been raised slightly and Kelly was standing beside Tin-Tin, holding her hand. Both women were watching Alan and he bent down to whisper to Adam. "I've got to take you back to Mommy now or I'm going to get in trouble."

Alan stepped back to where Tin-Tin was waiting and carefully transferred Adam back into her arms. "Are you alright?" he murmured and then glanced at Kelly. "Is she?"

Kelly nodded. "Everything's fine but you've got to remember that Tin-Tin's just had major surgery." Kelly rested her free hand on Tin-Tin's shoulder and smiled down at her. "She's got a lot of drugs in her system, she's had an epidural so can't currently feel anything from the waist down and her hormones are all over the place. A few tears are only to be expected. We'll be keeping a close eye on her over the next couple of days but I'd say, all in all, everything looks good."

Alan gently ran the back of his hand down Tin-Tin's cheek and smiled when she pressed her cheek against his hand without taking her eyes off Adam who was staring placidly up at her. "He's happier now he's back with you."

~#~

Tin-Tin and Adam were eventually wheeled back upstairs. Scott winked at Alan as they passed the waiting room and a couple of minutes after Tin-Tin was settled back in her room there was a gentle tap on the door. Alan cracked the door open and smiled when he saw Kyrano. "Tin, you have a visitor." He stepped backwards and opened the door further to allow Kyrano into the room. "Has Scott gone out to Dad?"

Kyrano nodded gently. "He has. Your father is well but discomfited by his inability to come inside."

Alan nodded and then stepped aside so that Kyrano could pass him. "Tin-Tin's still numbed up so she can't move around a lot. She's also a bit emotional so don't be surprised if you see a few tears."

Kyrano bowed his head and paced slowly over to where Tin-Tin and Adam were waiting. He spoke to her softly in Malay for a moment and then leant forwards and kissed her forehead. He pulled the visitor's chair, which Alan had been sitting on until he'd got up to answer the door, closer to the bed and sat down. "He is a beautiful child, my daughter, and much reminiscent of yourself when you were first born." Kyrano paused and looked at Tin-Tin wistfully. "You were always so very much like your mother."

Tin-Tin smiled sadly and glanced at Alan who nodded gently. "She'll be watching over him, just like Mrs Tracy and we'll make sure he knows all about both of them." She adjusted her hold on Adam so the baby was facing his grandfather and then kissed the top of his head. "Won't we, little one?"

~#~

Kyrano sat and talked quietly with Alan and Tin-Tin until Adam started to become fussy almost twenty minutes later. Alan hurried out of the room to find a nurse and when he returned Kyrano had disappeared. He sat cross-legged on the end of the bed while the nurse helped Tin-Tin to give Adam his first bottle and then grinned like a crazy person when Tin-Tin passed the baby to him to wind.

The nurse left them alone once Adam had finished his feed and it became clear that the couple were coping well. Adam fell asleep on Alan's shoulder and rather than disturb him Alan carefully shuffled himself up the bed until he was sitting beside Tin-Tin. Tin-Tin gazed at him through heavy-lidded eyes and then rested her head on his other shoulder and sighed heavily. "Tired."

Alan leant his head against hers and smiled. "Close your eyes and go to sleep. We're safe, secure and we're together. What more could we want?"


End file.
